HPNDP: The Golden Trio
by Nicky-Pickle-25
Summary: Harry Potter X Naruto X Danny Phantom. Vlad and Voldemort team up, and Naruto, Sai, Sakura, and Hinata are sent to protect and attend Hogwarts. Danny goes to find Vlad and ends up there, too. Set after Phantom Planet and the fight with Kakuzu; 5th HP book
1. Chapter 1: A New Mission

**HPNDP: The Golden Trio**

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Set after Naruto's battle with Kakuzu in the Shippuden manga; if you don't read it, you might want to. ;) Also set a few months after Phantom Planet, and during the 5th Harry Potter book, The Order of the Phoenix.

This is my first attempt at fan fiction, so cut me some slack and let me know what I need to work on. If I have to, I'll rewrite a chapter. Also, let me know if you're interested in being a beta! I try to explain everything here; if you recognize an idea you think is yours or you've seen before, ask me about it; I probably didn't know it existed, but I'll be happy to change it or give you recognition if it is really similar; I know that there are alot of HPxNaruto fics, but none that combine the three, so I figured I'd try it.

Enjoy!

Nicky

**NOTE: I don't own Harry Potter, Naruto, or Danny Phantom. If I did, the shows/books would be really bad. :D**

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****Chapter One:**

**A New Mission**

In recent months, things had been quiet in Amity Park, USA. The city, sometimes referred to as the "Ghost Capital of the World" due to the plethora of malevolent spirits bent on its destruction, was experiencing a reprieve after its resident ghost-fighting teen superhero joined forces with the very ghosts he'd fought in a successful attempt to save the world from a giant asteroid. After that, many of the ghosts either felt the city deserved a break, or were simply too afraid to go up against the powerful ghost boy residing there.

The 16-year old superhero welcomed the peace and quiet, just in time for summer vacation. Danny Fenton simply wanted to spend some quality, non ghost-butt-kicking time with his newly acquired girlfriend, Sam Manson. Sam, his best friend all throughout high school, was a strong-willed, raven-haired, self-proclaimed Ultra-Recyclo Vegetarian with an appetite for adventure and rebellion. Together the two had been teaming up with Danny's long-time best friend, Tucker Foley, in an effort to fight off spectral invaders since the day that Danny had received his powers 2 years ago in a freak lab accident. Tucker was recently elected to be the youngest mayor of Amity Park at 16, and was a self-described techno geek and meat connoisseur. Together, they were undefeated.

Tonight, however, proved to be different. Danny had left behind Sam and Tuck to do a routine scan of the Ghost Zone, the parallel dimension in which most specters resided. Typically his two friends would accompany him in the Specter Speeder, a hovercraft-like vehicle designed by his genius ghost-hunting parents. Unfortunately, Tucker was drowning in paperwork at the moment, and Sam was fending off her perky mother's attempts to dress her gothic daughter in pink frills. Danny had convinced them that he could handle himself, especially since nothing exciting or dangerous had been happening anywhere for a long time, and, after transforming into his ghostly alter-ego, Danny Phantom, he had headed off though his parent's recently upgraded portal to the Ghost Zone.

Now he was standing back in his parents' obscenely messy lab a few hours after setting off, troubled by what he'd found. He had run into Skulker, a formidable, amour-clad ghost hunter who had targeted Danny on more than one occasion. Tonight, however, Skulker simply wanted to share some invaluable information with the ghost boy. During the asteroid incident, Danny's archenemy, Vlad Plasmius, a fellow half-ghost whose human identity was the rich billionaire Vlad Masters, had revealed himself to the world in an attempt to blackmail his way into global conquest. After he failed in his attempts the evil half-ghost had been left exiled in the far reaches of space. It was this very same incident in which Danny had given up, then regained his ghost powers and revealed his own secret identity to the world, albeit to a much warmer reception.

According to Skulker, Vlad had somehow returned to Earth and teamed up with a force that was possibly more evil than he was. Not only that, but Danny knew that Vlad, whose evil ambitions were once tampered by his love for Danny's mom, Maddie Fenton, as well as his desire to make Danny his son/apprentice, would not have anything left to lose. He had lost Maddie forever, and Danny had firmly established that he'd never willfully join the "seriously crazed-up fruit loop." If Vlad had found an alliance with someone even worse than him, then the world was in big trouble. The strange thing was that he had returned to Europe, not Amity Park, to create his axis of evil.

When Danny questioned Skulker about this, the hunter explained that the new ally was a part of an underground community of people with strange powers residing in Western Europe, mainly Great Britain. This community did not accept anyone that did not have special abilities, which they referred to as magic. Apparently their magic was simply manipulated their inner power in order to get what they wanted using wands. When Danny first heard about these "wizards" he had laughed, but then realized that Skulker was serious. It made sense; if Danny's DNA had an ectoplasmic signature that allowed him to turn into a ghost and walk through walls, magic didn't really sound too far-fetched.

Skulker had continued to explain that since this community was so exclusive, anyone with non-magical powers could not possibly get in. Apparently special wards and memory-altering "spells" prevented them from even seeing the wizards, nevertheless entering their world. Therefore, if Danny wanted to stop Vlad's new alliance, he'd have to do it without the other two members of his ghost-fighting trio, and seek his own alliance with the wizards in Great Britain. Apparently there was a man there, currently staying somewhere in London, that led the fight against this enemy. If Danny wanted to save the world, yet again, he'd have to find this guy and join him. Alone. Sam would not be happy.

* * *

The next morning Danny gathered his family and two best friends in his living room to tell them what he'd found and convince them to let him go to London on his own. He hadn't slept at all that night, thinking about what he'd heard and trying to figure out what to say. In the end, he decided to just blurt out everything and then do the convincing afterwards. So that's what he did. As soon as the tale was finished, He knew that the task was not going to be easy.

"Danny, what do you _mean_ you're going to London?! We need you here! And you need us! You can't go off on your own! You save the world and enter your junior year in high school, and now you think that you're invincible! You couldn't beat Vlad alone before, what makes you think you can do it now? And what about Amity Park??" Jazz, his older sister, was the first to speak. He knew she didn't mean anything by what she'd said; the young genius and future child psychology major at Yale University was simply trying to protect him, as she'd done all his life, for better or worse.

"Lay off the psychoanalysis, Jazz," spat Sam, probably mad that she had been the first to speak and not Sam, "and you, Danny! Why can't I come? We're a team! And we finally..." she trailed off at the last sentence, but its meaning was clear. It'd taken 2 years for them to get together, and now he was leaving.

"Yeah, and you can't leave me here with Sa--I mean, the ghosts!" chimed in Tucker, trying to avoid Sam's glare. The girl was scary sometimes, Danny had to admit.

"Guys, you _know _why I have to go, I've told you a million times! I don't like it either, but it's the only way to defeat the Fruit Loop. And besides, Tuck has responsibilities here as mayor; he can't just up and relocate to England. And Sam, I need you to team up with my parents to fight any ghosts that show up here in my absence. There's bound to be a few. Jazz, don't even start, you're going to Yale, and I'm not letting you mess up your future because of Vlad Masters," Danny reasoned.

Suddenly Maddie spoke up. She had been unusually quiet, but she was always one to think first and then speak, and now she knew that as much as she hated it, her son was right; there was no other choice. "Danny's right, Jazz. He's been training harder than ever, and he'll have help in London. I think he needs to do this. He's faced Pariah Dark on his own; he'll be fine."

Danny smiled in thanks at his mom. He had told his parents all of his past adventures now that they knew his identity, including the story of when he'd defeated the powerful ghost king, and they had seemed to find a new respect for their son.

"Yes! And I...er...WE can handle the ghosts!!" Danny's father, Jack Fenton, exclaimed, glancing at Maddie. Jack was a lovable, large, fudge-loving man whose whole life revolved around ghosts. His family rolled his eyes.

"Well, I still don't see why..." began Sam, starting the conversation all over again.

After 2 days and many arguments, Danny finally convinced everyone that he was making the right decision, and he was ready to head to England. He decided it would be much faster to fly there on his own, given his ever-increasing speed. Plus, he'd always wanted to fly across an ocean. Packing his clothes and ecto-weapons into the newly invented Fenton Pack, a backpack that had five times the storage capacity of a typical backpack while remaining the same size, he prepared to leave. With a last goodbye to his family and Tuck, and a stop off at Sam's house for one last kiss, he transformed into Danny Phantom and flew off towards England and the man known as Albus Dumbledore.

* * *

Meanwhile, across the globe, a tall blonde, much older than she appeared, sat in an office strewn with papers and sake bottles. Her long hair laid in two pigtails down her back, and she had a purple gem in the middle of her forehead. She was extremely heavy-chested, although no one could say if this was natural or not. She scowled at her young, short-haired assistant, Shizune. The black-haired girl had been with her for a long time, and was now her right-hand man...or woman...now that she, Tsunade, was the Hokage of Konohagakure, the Village Hidden in the Leaves, the main shinobi village in the Fire Country, a hidden region off the coast of Japan.

Konoha had seen its fair share of troubles recently, the least of which was her old teammate Orochimaru, who had taken one of the most promising young shinobi in the village, Uchiha Sasuke, in an attempt to possess the boy's body and steal his bloodline limit, or Kekkei Genkai, the Sharingan, an extremely advanced power centered in the eye. Orochimaru had promised revenge on his old village, and it was only a matter of time before he struck. But there were still nearly 6 months before he would be able to take over Sasuke's powers, and so that threat, for the time being, at least, was on hold.

The most recent threat came in the form of Akatsuki, a secret organization of S-ranked, highly skilled "missing-nin," or shinobi that had defected from their villages of origin to make their own way. Considered traitors to their home villages, Akatsuki sought to capture the 9 different tailed demons, or bijuu, for reasons known only to them. Most of the bijuu had been sealed inside human hosts, referred to as Jinchuuriki. They had so far successfully captured all but 2 of the fabled bijuu, one of which being the strongest, the nine-tailed demon fox referred to as Kyuubi. It was this demon that was sealed inside Konoha's own Jinchuuriki, a talented albeit loud 15-year-old shinobi named Uzumaki Naruto.

Naruto was restless, hyperactive, caring, and loyal to a fault. He'd made a pledge to return Sasuke to Konoha, and it was that pledge that had driven Tsunade to allow him to take part in many missions that placed him in jeopardy of coming into contact with Akatsuki. He had just returned from a mission with his team and one other, where he had defeated the Akatsuki member Kakuzu using a jutsu that he had recently developed, one that was so powerful that it nearly destroyed his own arm in the process of using it. With the death of Kakuzu and Hidan, who was defeated by another young shinobi named Shikamaru, Akatsuki was down to only five members: Uchiha Itachi, Sasuke's older brother and the murderer of the Uchiha clan, Hoshigaki Kisame, Itachi's partner and once a member of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist, Tobi, a mysterious new addition to the group, and two others unknown to anyone outside of Akatsuki. It was Itachi that was after Naruto, and Sasuke that was out to seek revenge on Itachi, and Naruto that sought to find Sasuke, so it was inevitable that the dangerous Akatsuki member and the determined Jinchuuriki would meet, and Tsunade feared that day was getting closer.

Tsunade desperately wished that she had a good way to hide Naruto from Akatsuki while still satisfying his need to prove himself and utilizing his ever-growing talents as a shinobi. He had recently surpassed even his sensei in skill, and was on track to accomplish his dream of becoming Hokage of Konoha, the position that Tsunade now held with honor. Unfortunately, she knew that there was no perfect answer, and yet the council was demanding she keep Naruto on a leash. She could only resist them for so long before they won out.

At that moment, a harried-looking, large brown owl flew into the office, landing heavily on the desk, scattering papers everywhere.

"Shizune!"

"Yes, Tsunade-sama?"

"What the hell is an owl doing in my office?"

"Well, Tsunade-sama, I believe that there is a package on its leg. Perhaps it is a messenger bird from another village?" the young medic-nin replied hurriedly.

While most villages used hawks to deliver messages, given their speed, she assumed the use of an owl was not too improbable. Opening the large package attached to the bird's leg, she noted the address,

_Tsunade__, __Hokage__ of __Konohagakure_

_Office of the Hokage_

_Hokage__ Complex_

_Konohagakure, Fire Country_

She had never seen a stranger way of addressing a letter, nor a more obvious one. Most messages were encoded to keep them away from spying eyes, and were never so blatantly obvious in their destination. Curious, she opened the accompanying envelope to find a letter addressed to her, with her title written in the strangest way. The letter was in Japanese, but the salutation was written as if the writer spoke English, a language Tsunade had encountered and learned from her grandfather, the second Hokage of Konoha.

_Ms. __Tsunade__, __Konohagakure__Hokage__,_

_Just yesterday a student of mi__ne__ whom I had assumed to be quite safe was attacked by a pair of __dementors__. I do believe you are familiar with these creatures, having yourself been to visit Europe's __wizarding__ community on your many travels. Naturally, this raises a great deal of alarm as to the security of this student, a target of a particularly evil man, as well as for my school in general, as I myself am somewhat of a target to this man..._

The letter went on to explain that the author, Albus Dumbledore, of whom Tsunade had heard on her aforementioned trip to the wizarding world, was the headmaster of a particularly well-respected school of magic known as Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Apparently Voldemort, an evil man bent on global conquest, had recently returned to power, and had immediately entered into alliance with a strange and powerful enemy. He requested a shinobi team to masquerade as students at his school and protect it and one boy in particular, a 16-year-old named Harry Potter. Tsunade remembered hearing of him in the past; he was the only one who had survived Voldemort's killing curse.

She handed the letter to Shizune and rubbed her temple in thought. If this was indeed true, their world was in peril just as much as Dumbledore's. Not many in the wizarding community knew of the Hidden Countries, but she was sure that word would get out eventually. The shinobi and wizarding worlds had long been separated, but the Ministry of Magic, the wizards' main branch of government, felt it necessary to attempt to keep track of shinobi activities from time to time. The shinobi, however, couldn't care less, and generally ignored the wizards, until their worlds were eventually nearly forgotten, save for in old, forgotten archives. Now they were being brought back together, this time in secret.

Tsunade knew she had to send a team, and that it was to be the young shinobi that had been dubbed the Konoha 11, consisting of 11 extremely talented teens that had once been genin together. Now they consisted of 9 chuunin, 1 genin, and 1 jounin, although the genin, Naruto, was arguably jounin level. Their teams were more than capable of handling this assignment, and they were the perfect age. But which team to send?

It was then that Shizune spoke up, "Excuse me, Hokage-sama, but what about sending Team Kakashi? That way Naruto would have a high profile mission out of the reach of Akatsuki, at least for the next year or so of school, and by then we might at least know a little more on the organization."

Tsunade paused, thinking. It was true, and she knew it, but Naruto would not want to abandon his hunt for Sasuke, and neither would his teammate, Haruno Sakura, Tsunade's apprentice, a talented medic-nin who was in love with her ex-teammate.

"Call them in...Wait...we need one more. There are no good reconnaissance members on this team, it's mostly meant for power. Well, Sai has his drawings, but we need another member. This school is huge, if I remember correctly."

She thought through the other 9 options (Sai was never a part of the Konoha 11, despite being in Team Kakashi). Hyuuga Neiji was a good choice, the Byakugan was almost necessary, but he was needed in Konoha, as a jounin. His teammates were not suited to the job: Tenten was a weapons specialist, and Rock Lee was an expert in taijutsu, but neither had what the mission needed. Nara Shikamaru was a genius, but he had just lost his sensei and defeated Hidan, and deserved a break. His teammates Yamanaka Ino and Akimichi Chouji were both talented, but Ino's skills lied in interrogation and medical arts, the latter of which Sakura excelled in, and Chouji was a heavy-hitter, which Team Kakashi did not need at all. The obvious choices were Inuzuka Kiba, Aburame Shino, or Hyuuga Hinata, the three of whom made up the one of the best recon teams in the village. Kiba and Shino were on missions with their fathers, but Hinata was more than available.

"Shizune, bring in Hyuuga Hinata with Team Kakashi. And tell Kakashi and Yamato they will not be needed. I don't want any older jounin on this mission."

"Right away!"

An hour later, the four young shinobi were assembled in front of Tsunade. Hinata was blushing furiously while glancing at Naruto, while the Kyuubi vessel was grumbling about missing his ramen, and that the mission better be at least A-rank. Sakura was glaring at him threateningly, daring him to openly contest their mission, while Sai was grinning blankly, in his strange way, so that nobody knew what he was thinking.

"You four have a new mission. Naruto, your arm should be healed in a day or so more, and that is when you will leave. It is long term, lasting a year, so you must pack lightly but sufficiently."

"WHAT?! Tsunade-baa-chan, we can't leave for a year!! Sasuke is still with the snake bastard, Orochimaru! He'll be gone in a year!" Naruto burst out, angrily. For once, Sakura understood the outburst, and did not retaliate on her teammate.

"Tsunade-sama, I agree. We can't just abandon Sasuke-kun."

"Naruto, don't call me that! And both of you, don't think I don't understand your feelings on this. I know that Sasuke is important to you, but I promise I will send Kakashi and Yamato with a team to focus only on his recovery. But there is a more pressing matter at hand, Naruto. You know what I mean. This issue is beginning to endanger all of Konoha, and the council is putting too much pressure on me to hold out any longer."

Naruto slumped a little, but defiance still glowed in his eyes. He knew the Hokage was right. She meant that his presence put the very village in danger from Akatsuki, and he could not let this happen. This was the best way to protect himself and the village.

To his surprise, Sakura spoke up, "Tsunade-sama, you are right. This is what must be done." Naruto glanced at her incredulously. She was the one who wanted Sasuke back most of all. If she was leaving that behind, then so could he, but not without a fight.

"Fine, but on one condition. If you hear anything about Sasuke, or if you can't find him, let us come back. I can't and won't break my promise. No matter what." His last words were barely a whisper, but the point was clear, and Tsunade knew that Naruto would go to any lengths to keep a promise. That was his self-described ninja way.

"I will go," stated Sai, simply. He knew that this must be important, if Naruto was willing to risk breaking one of his most precious bonds, and was interested to find out why. He assumed it had to do with the demon fox; he and Sakura were among the few young shinobi that knew of Naruto's Jinchuuriki status, as Danzo, his sensei of sorts, had told him.

"I-I will g-go w-with you also, N-naruto-kun," stammered Hinata. She didn't know about the Kyuubi, but she knew this was important to him, and she respected and admired Naruto more than anyone else that she knew, to the point that her stuttering from her younger years would return full force when she was in his presence.

"Thank you, Hinata!" Naruto smiled, patting her on the back. She immediately turned a cherry red and fainted.

'Well, this will be interesting,' thought Tsunade as she explained the mission in greater detail. The four shinobi before her were stunned when she said that wizards were real, but then explained that in reality their magic was simply controlling one's inner energy, such as their own chakra, using enhanced sticks as a focus point. As she finished, Naruto spoke up.

"So, old lady, we're supposed to learn to channel chakra through a wand like a wizard, go to some freaky school, and protect a kid from an enemy potentially more powerful than Orochimaru?"

"Yes, Naruto. And don't call me old lady."

"...okay..." he replied slowly, unsure what to make of the ridiculous mission.

Tsunade sighed. "You'll be taking a transport device called a 'portkey' to an alley outside of the Leaky Cauldron, a wizard's pub in London. There you will meet with Dumbledore Albus and spend 2 months learning English and wizarding culture. You'll also be reading up on spell casting; you won't be able to get a wand yet, but at least you'll know the spells."

"WHAT? 2 months?? Of more school??"

"Shut up, idiot!!" shouted Sakura, punching him on top of the head.

A bead of sweat rolled down Tsunade's temple. "Sakura, don't kill him. And yes, Naruto, 2 months, so get over it. Now, Naruto, I want you to use your toad summons to send messages back to me, since anything else could be compromised. Other methods of correspondence are too risky. You'll be the team leader on this trip, but I want Sakura to work closely with you. If you mess up, she's going to take over. This will be a good test for you if you want to be Hokage. Sai, don't tick off Naruto too much. Hinata, keep an eye on every one."

"O-k-kay, Tsunade-sama."

"Yes."

* * *

The next day, the four shinobi reassembled in Tsunade's office, ready to be transported to London. Tsunade produced the torn piece of parchment that had come with the letter.

"Now, hold onto this, and don't let go. Ready?"

They nodded, grabbing the paper.

"Bye, Tsunade-baa-cha--" Naruto's voice was cut off before he could finish his sentence as they all felt a tug at the navel and disappeared from the office of the Hokage towards London, Albus Dumbledore, and a new adventure.

* * *

Next chappie out really soon!!


	2. Chapter 2: Together in London

So Chapter 2 is up! Yay! Danny and the shinobi finally meet, and they find out exactly what's going on. I've been tending to switch points of view rather often; let me know if it gets too confusing.

As always, review, please! I don't know how many people actually like all three shows enough to read this, but if you do, let me know! D

xoxo,

Nicky.

**NOTE: I don't own Harry Potter, Danny Phantom, or Naruto. **If I did, Danny Phantom would still be on the air, and I would know what's going on with the whole Naruto-Akatsuki-Sasuke thing by now. It's driving me crazy to wait a week!!

**FYI:**

"_Japanese speaking"_

"English speaking"

'thinking'

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**Chapter Two:**

**Together in London**

After a long flight over the Atlantic, Danny Phantom had finally arrived in London. He hovered far above the city, admiring Big Ben, the Tower of London, and other sights that he knew had some significance for one reason or another. If only he'd paid more attention to his English teacher, Mr. Lancer…he was always raving about British literature and culture. Unfortunately, Danny had made it a habit to sleep in that class, especially after a night of ghost-hunting.

'Great,' he thought, realizing the size of the area he had to cover, 'this city is huge. How will I cover all this ground?'

He decided to search from the ground; he had no clue what the guy looked like, and he easily could talk to people as Danny Fenton to see if he could find anything. Looking for a safe place to land and change back to human, he found a dark alleyway next to a rickety old pub named "The Leaky Cauldron." He figured that he shouldn't change in broad daylight, as he now did back home; maybe people around here would recognize Danny Phantom, but hopefully not Danny Fenton. He didn't need any crazed fans mobbing him while he was trying to be covert.

The minute he'd changed back, he heard a crash behind him, and turned to look deeper into the alley. There he saw four teens sprawled on top of each other. It looked as if they'd suddenly fallen from the sky. 'Just what is going on?' He thought, going for a closer look when one of them began shouting in a language that he didn't understand.

"_Damn it, that old hag could have warned us first! Sai, you bastard, get the hell off me!"_ Sai, who had landed across Naruto's stomach, grinned.

"_Shut up, pervert, and get off my chest!" _shouted Sakura, who then began to pound on Naruto's head in an attempt to get the point across.

"_I can't! That bastard won't get off me!"_

_"Well, dick-less, Hinata is currently on my back," _explained Sai, still grinning.

_"Don't call me that, bastard!"_

_"S-sorry, N-naruto-kun, S-sai-kun. I-I am getting off n-now, see?"_ blushing, Hinata stood and noticed a boy about their age standing in the alleyway, staring. "_I-I b-believe we have c-company."_

Danny, who was standing there with his mouth wide open, noticed one of the girls was pointing at him, and he quickly recovered as the rest of the teens stood up and turned towards him. One of them, who had been yelling earlier, pointed at him and spoke.

"_Are you Dumbledore Albus?"_

Danny had no clue what the boy had asked, but he did recognize the name, Dumbledore, as belonging to the man he was searching for.

"Wait, **you're** Albus Dumbledore? You're my age!" he blurted out, before realizing that Albus Dumbledore probably spoke English, not whatever this boy and the others were speaking.

_"What did he say? That's not Japanese!"_

_"Duh, idiot. I think it's English. My dad taught me a few words, but I don't know what he said. Sai?"_

_"I also know some of the language, enough to know that this is not Dumbledore-san, but I do not know enough to follow everything he is saying."_

_"How do you all know English?!"_

_"E-excuse me, b-but I know English w-well enough. I-I had to l-learn it as the el-eldest H-hyuuga."_

_"Awesome, Hinata! You rock!"_

_"Thank you, Naruto-kun," _she said, blushing furiously and trying desperately to stay on her feet, _"I believe he asked if Naruto-kun was Dumbledore Albus." _Naruto clapped Hinata on the back, and she lost her battle for consciousness, fainting at his friendly gesture.

"Okay, what the heck is going on here?" Danny asked to no one in particular, noticing one of the four teens in front of him had just passed out. He was surprised to hear a response, and in English.

"Perhaps I can answer that, although I must say, I was told to only be expecting four of you."

Danny spun around to see a tall, silver-haired old man with a beard that reached down to his stomach. He wore blue, sparkling, floor-length robes and a matching pointed hat, and his half-moon spectacles were perched precariously upon the bridge of his nose. His eyes sparkled with curiosity.

"_How come nobody speaks Japanese in this place?!" _Naruto vented, exasperated at not knowing what was going on.

"_Oh, I apologize, young man. I overheard your friend here speaking English, and assumed that all of you could speak it."_

_"Whaaatttt?? You speak Japanese, too? What's going on, old man? And that kid's not our friend!"_

_"Naruto, be nice, idiot!" _shouted Sakura, bashing the kid on the head yet again.

"Hang on, what did you say? What's happening?" Danny wondered aloud, considering running away before something even stranger could pop up.

Dumbledore chuckled. "_Well, I do believe that we need to get some things sorted out here. My name is Albus Dumbledore, or, as you'd say, Dumbledore Albus. Now I think we should take our business indoors before we attract a crowd, and we'll sort this out." _After repeating the same to Danny in English, Dumbledore led the five teens into a private room within the Leaky Cauldron.

* * *

After casting an Imperturbable Charm on the room, as well as a Language charm that allowed all present to understand what was being said, Dumbledore sat at the round table between two of the students, a blonde boy and a black-haired girl. He planned on asking their names and using a bit of Legilimency to determine their basic character and ensure they were indeed who they said.

Turning to the young lady to his right, he smiled and said, "Now, I'd like to get to know each one of you a bit before we start, so I'm just going to go around and get your names. Let's start with you, dear."

The girl looked up at him shyly, blushing slightly. She had on a light purple and white hooded jacket, and purple sweatpants that came to a close halfway down her calf. She wore open-toed sandals, and what he knew to be the Konoha shinobi symbol, a spiral leaf, etched onto a metal piece that was fastened to a thick ribbon hanging loosely around her neck. She had long, black hair that seemed to have a purple shine to it, and her bangs lay neatly on her brow. When he looked into her eyes he was surprised to note they were white, and seemingly pupil-less, not too much unlike his friend, Mr. Ollivander.

"M-my name is H-hinata H-hyuuga. I-I am one of th-the Konoha shinobi s-sent to help you at y-your school." She stammered, nervously touching the tips of her two forefingers together.

He quickly saw that the girl, while nervous and timid, was strong-hearted, kind, and hard-working. He also sensed a strong feeling of admiration for the blonde boy, which made him smile. He detected a great deal of power in her eyes and movements, which made sense given her status as a shinobi. She was indeed who she said.

Turning to the next teen, he noticed that the boy was very oddly dressed. He wore a black and navy zippered, short top that bared his midriff. One of his sleeves was long, while the other was short, and he had black, fingerless gloves. His black pants reached to mid-calf, where they were met with soft, flexible boots that, interestingly enough, had an open toe. The boy was remarkably pale, and his limp black hair hung over his Konoha symbol, this time mounted on a black headband around his forehead.

"And, who might you be?"

"Sai," the boy stated simply, then grinned. His smile was forced, and almost disturbingly fake, as if he did not quite grasp the concept of a smile.

Looking into his eyes, Dumbledore saw that they were coal black and surprisingly blank. His mind was similarly empty, showing no real emotions. He could see the boy was obedient and intelligent, but what stood out in his mind was a strong desire to discover and form bonds with others, fueled by the very same blonde that the girl next to him fancied, which he found fascinating.

Moving to the English speaker, whom he had pegged as an American by the accent, Dumbledore thought that the boy looked familiar. Perhaps it was his slight resemblance to Harry Potter? He was skinny, albeit muscular, with spiky, unruly black hair, and brilliant blue eyes. The teen wore faded jeans and a simple white t-shirt with a red oval across the chest.

"What's your name, son?"

Danny winced when Dumbledore called him 'son;' Vlad called him that as well, much to his chagrin. "Uh, I'm Danny Fenton. What's up?" he replied, feeling rather awkward in this situation.

"Ah, yes, Fenton. I thought I recognized you. You're Danny Phantom, are you not? I met with an…acquaintance of yours a while back. He mentioned you might be coming to see me. But we can discuss more of that later."

Danny nodded, for a second wondering who he'd spoken with before realizing it had to be Skulker. He smiled at the thought of he and the self-described "Ghost Zone's greatest hunter" being simple acquaintances. Suddenly he felt a presence in his mind, not like being overshadowed, but similar, and he pushed it out with little effort, his eyes glowing green momentarily. He got the feeling it came from Dumbledore, but decided to ask him about it later.

At this Dumbledore was impressed; the boy would have a good talent with Occulmency, if the need ever arose. In his brief glimpse of the boys mind, he got a feeling of stubbornness and burning curiosity, as well as a weight of responsibility and maturity that had begun to temper his naivety.

Satisfied, Dumbledore turned to the young lady next to Danny. She wore a sleeveless, zippered, red jacket, short pink sleeves covering each elbow, and heavy black gloves. She sported a pink short skirt with slits halfway to the top of it in the front and back, and full length slits on each side, belted together with pink buckles. Underneath she wore tight black shorts. A white, hollow oval was on her back, and to complete the outfit, she wore knee-length, high-heeled, open-toed boots. Her shoulder-length, choppy pink hair was held out of her face by a red headband bearing the Konoha symbol, yet some hair remained in front, drifting into her stunning turquoise eyes.

"And what is your name, miss?"

"I am medical ninja Sakura Haruno," she answered, "and I would like to say that we will do everything we can to secure the safety of your school. We are a very talented team, I can assure you."

He smiled at her confidence, but realized soon after glancing into her thoughts that she was right. This young woman was tremendously powerful, both in the medical arts and in brute strength. He sensed a lingering sadness within her, but also warmth of heart that was reassuring. She was stubborn and proud, and fiercely protective of the blonde; he sensed a great amount of caring towards the boy emanating from her. He was interested to meet this boy, now.

"Well thank you very much. And what's your name, young man?"

Naruto decided to fall back on his old routine of playing the loud-mouthed, knuckle-headed ninja. The mood was getting very stuffy, and while Naruto was rapidly outgrowing much of his childishness, he still felt the need to break the ice.

"I'm Naruto Uzumaki, future Hokage! Nice to meet you, old man! Just wondering, is there any ramen here?"

Dumbledore chuckled at the boy's enthusiastic response, and replied, "No, I'm sorry, not here, but perhaps something can be arranged."

"Oh no, no ramen…." This time Naruto was serious; ramen was his life!

Sakura rolled her eyes and punched Naruto in the head, "Idiot! Can you think about nothing else but ramen?!"

Dumbledore took this time to examine the boy. He wore a black, zippered, high-necked, long-sleeved jacket that turned orange at mid-chest, and orange pants reaching down to mid-calf, where they met with open-toed black boots similar to those that Sai wore. A blue spiral flanked by two pieces of wood was on one shoulder, and a large red spiral was on his back. His spiky, bright blonde hair was held back by a black headband with the symbol of Konoha positioned across his forehead like Sai's. Most interesting were his sparkling, cerulean blue eyes and the 3 thin marks lining each cheek, much like whiskers. It seemed the boy never stopped smiling.

Curious, Dumbledore attempted to glimpse into the boys mind but was met with a wall around it stronger than any he'd ever encountered, and the boy didn't even seem to be conscious of doing it. If he'd known of the Kyuubi, he'd have realized that Naruto had so much experience blocking the fox's own presence from his mind, that he blocked that of others without trying. But he had no way of knowing this, and assumed the boy must have had intense training in Occulmency.

Naruto, realizing he was being examined, broke the awkward silence, having recovered already from Sakura's fists of fury. "So, old man, who is this kid, and what do you need us to do? Do we really have to study for 2 months before we even get to school?"

"Yes, you do, I'm sorry to say. As for the rest, I think that you should make yourselves comfortable. This may take a while…"

Dumbledore then explained the mission all over again, as well as the situation with Voldemort, the evil dark wizard seeking to take over the world. When mentioning his alliance, Danny chimed in with his knowledge of Vlad. He then proceeded to explain his ghost powers, transforming into Danny Phantom to prove his point when Naruto had stared at him in disbelief. After the shock of seeing a human turn into a ghost had passed, the blonde declared it to be the best jutsu ever. Danny didn't know what that meant, but he took the compliment.

* * *

A few hours and many words later, Dumbledore began to bring the meeting to an end.

"Well, now that we all know what's going on, I have an idea of how to go about this. The five of you will attend Hogwarts as students. I think we shall have the two girls be apprenticed to teachers, explaining it as a custom at your school, as Sakura's skills will come in handy in our medical wing, and I'm sure we can find a good position for Hinata. The three young men will be sorted into the general population here at school."

"Wait, I'm going to school here now? I just want to get this over with and go home!" interrupted Danny, upset at hearing he'd be attending this strange school so far from home with these weird ninja kids. He still couldn't believe they were ninja; they sure didn't look like it.

"Yes, Danny. I'm sorry, but that's how it has to be. It's the only way to find out more information on both Vlad and Voldemort; right now there is no way to discover where they are, and they will most likely focus on Harry first, so it only makes sense that you stick with him. Now, I'll take you to your rooms; I have 2 set aside, one for Sakura and Hinata, and another for Danny, Sai, and Naruto. There are only 2 beds, so you'll have to work that out…I wasn't expecting Danny to be here."

Naruto groaned, but Dumbledore ignored it. "You'll study English for a month. After that time, I'll meet with you to get an update and start you on wizarding culture so you'll fit in. Don't leave your rooms; they are adjoined, so you'll have plenty of space. Tom, the innkeeper, will bring you anything you'll need. I must go; I have a lot to take care of. I'll see you in a month."

With that he pointed to their rooms, turned around on the spot, and disappeared with a distinct _crack_. The five stared. Just what had they gotten themselves into?

* * *

**A/N: **There ya go, hope you enjoyed it! Chapter 3 is getting ready to be typed.


	3. Chapter 3: Lessons At the Leaky Cauldron

Chapter Three:

Here's Chapter 3!! Woohoo! I'm pretty much just writing this because I feel like it, but I'd still love it if ya left a review! D Not that I review a lot. So, you know. I'm kind of a hypocrite. But oh well….

ANYWAYS, this chapter is boring and short, but necessary, and besides, next chapter is Diagon Alley! I know, I'm like the only person who takes 4 chapters to get there, but I love to hear myself talk…or write…whatever.

Enjoy!

Xoxo,

Nicky

**PS: I don't own Harry Potter, Naruto, or Danny Phantom. If I did, I'd had Danny Phantom be made into a live action movie so I can obsess over the real life Danny Fenton. Cuz obsessing over a cartoon is somehow not natural…**

"English speaking"

_"Japanese speaking"_

'thinking'

Oh, and if a Japanese word is spoken in English, I prolly won't bother to italicize it...since it's heard that way to the English speakers. And the Engish speakers can't understand the Japanese, of course.

* * *

**Chapter Three:**

**Lessons at the Leaky Cauldron**

After unpacking their few belongings, the girls opened the door connecting their room to the boys' and entered to find Danny sitting quietly on the bed nearest the wall, deep in thought. Sai sat on the other bed, drawing something, and Naruto was on the floor, muttering under his breath. Sakura guessed, rightly, that he had lost the fight for the other bed.

Danny hadn't understood anything the other two boys were yelling about, so he had just sat on a bed, claiming it by default. He was thinking about what he'd heard, and was really starting to miss Sam, even though it had only been a day. She'd know what to say to make him feel better, and Tuck would chime in with some random comment that would make him laugh. Now he was stuck with four kids that didn't even know English!

Sai had simply sat on the other bed and begun to draw after Naruto had started loudly challenging him for the right to sleep there. Then the blonde began yelling about how unfair it was that Sai was not even fighting him for it, but when Sai pointed out that he could have taken action and easily claimed it as Danny had done instead of yelling about it, Naruto was at a loss for words. 'In fact,' thought Sai, 'that is the first time that I have seen him not know what to say…' He soon forgot about it, and continued drawing while Naruto moped.

Naruto, however, did notice that none of them were as angry or as annoyed as they should have been, and deduced that the old man must have put some sort of calming drug in their drinks. Not that he minded; the emotions that were threatening to boil to the surface just hours ago were now veiled by a gentle happiness that made it much easier to maintain the image that he'd been displaying for his entire life. Sure, Naruto loved to have fun, and he really was hot-tempered and emotional, but he hid a great deal of pain and sadness that he never wanted to show to anyone.

Deep in thought, he didn't notice when Sakura approached him until she was nearly on top of him. When he heard his name, he jumped.

_"Naruto! Why are you so jumpy? I can tell something's bothering you. What's wrong?"_

_"Nothing, Sakura-chan. I still feel guilty about Sasuke, though." _Sakura understood Naruto's desire for Sasuke's return; she herself felt it, too. Of all the people in his life, the only one he'd confided in more than Sakura, as of late, were Jiraiya, his sensei, and Iruka, his old Academy teacher.

_"Don't worry. Tsunade-sama promised she wouldn't let Orochimaru get him, and we need to do this, so let's make the most of it. It'll be fine."_

_"I know. I get why. I'm just sorry you got dragged into my problems. Now, I think Hinata and that Danny kid need some cheering up; Hinata looks like she might cry, and Danny looks like he's going to throw up or something,"_ Naruto commented, changing the subject. Sakura noticed, but didn't object.

_"Okay. I'll handle Hinata; you take care of that boy. You made friends with Gaara; I think you can handle a simple difference in language. How do you manage to do that, anyways? Don't answer that. Sai will be fine; he always is, I think."_

With that Sakura headed over to talk to Hinata, who was looking down at her feet, her face a bright red, touching her 2 fingers together and glancing nervously about the room. In reality, the prospect of spending more than a couple minutes with Naruto was overwhelming to her; since he had come back from his two and a half year training journey, she had fainted every time that she encountered him. Sakura managed to calm her down, even though she assumed that Hinata was upset about the mission, not her inability to speak in Naruto's presence.

For his part, Naruto sat down next to the sulking ghost boy, grinning widely and giving a little way as he greeted him.

_"Hi! I'm Naruto!"_

Danny figured the blonde kid sitting next to him was trying to say hello, so he returned the gesture. "Uh, hey. I'm Danny. So…you're a…_shinobi_?"

Naruto smiled even wider, if possible. So the kid was a ghost; he really wasn't bad. The shinobi comment had earned him some brownie points. Naruto loved to brag about it, and was intensely proud of his shinobi status.

"_Yes!" _Getting more serious, and gesturing to make his point, he stated, more as a question than anything, _"You look sad."_

At this Danny's frustrations suddenly came to a boil, and he vented all of the frustrations he'd been feeling to the Japanese boy sitting next to him, despite the fact that the kid had no idea what he was saying. It just felt good to say it out loud.

"Well I miss my home, and I don't want to be here. It's bad enough I have to fight the Fruit Loop alone, but now I'm stuck waiting a whole year at some crazy school with you guys—no offense—and I don't want to be here. I miss Jazz and Tucker and especially Sam, and even my crazy parents. Heck, I miss Dash! Plus, I just found out that I can do magic. Magic! Oh yeah, and ninjas still exist, too, only they have really cool superpowers. And what will I do with no ghosts to hunt? I'll be so bored! Okay, so that's been the same even at home for a few months, but at least there I can go into the ghost zone and get some action…"

Naruto just fidgeted silently next to the venting teen, waiting for him to finish his rant. When he did, he spoke up again, once more gesturing wildly.

"_I'm mad too. But Dumbledore's right... We should sleep now. Friends?"_

Danny looked at him a minute before realizing what the boy was saying. He was right; they had to be here. Plus, he could still talk to his family and friends, since he had his phone, provided he snuck out once in a while night to charge it, which was easy, given his ghost powers. What's more, the blonde boy had said he wanted to be friends. Maybe he could have some fun while he was stuck here. Danny returned the smile he was receiving.

"Friends."

* * *

Despite Sai's offer to share the bed with him, or perhaps because of it, Naruto woke up on the floor of their hotel room the next morning in a sleeping bag in a relatively good mood. As much as he hated schoolwork, he loved to learn, and couldn't wait to figure out what Danny was saying without having to play a game of charades every time they spoke. Thus, English lessons began.

As the month progressed, Sai and Sakura excelled at English. Sakura had seen a few words here and there from her parents, who were merchants, and Sai had already learned some words from Danzo, who, despite opposing any outside cultures, felt a good shinobi should know their potential enemies. Naruto, however, never even knew the language existed before the mission, and so was quite a bit behind.

Luckily, after calling up about 50 shadow clones a day to read and study and practice the language, Naruto caught up to his two teammates. The room seemed to expand with the addition of each shadow clone, which amazed him to no end. One day he tried to test its limits, but Sakura quickly intervened, reasoning that she could barely handle fifty of him yelling all day, nevertheless 10,000.

For his part, Danny was shocked at Naruto's clones. He could only make four clones of himself with his ghost powers, and that was pushing it. Three was really his limit, at least if they were to be of any help. The fourth was always so weak it didn't do much but function as a distraction.

Danny was beginning to really like Naruto. The guy was always friendly and upbeat, and, despite being annoying at times, he made it almost impossible to be upset when he was around. Sai, on the other hand, was just weird. He was an amazing artist, as Danny soon found out, but he didn't talk much, and when he did, he was surprisingly abrupt. It was as if he'd never had friends, and didn't know how to act around them. After talking to Naruto about it, he found out that it was true; he didn't even experience emotions until a short while ago.

Hinata was very nice, but as soon as she got around Naruto, she'd start stuttering and occasionally would faint, although she was gradually retaining consciousness more and more. He figured she was crushing on the boy, although Naruto remained clueless. Sakura was also nice; she was a lot like Sam: a strong, independent feminist with a good heart. She was also scary at times; when she was mad, she'd pound Naruto and Sai so badly that he was shocked when they were able to recover. Naruto especially could really take a hit.

As for their powers, after Danny showcased his more benign ones that could be done indoors, such as his invisibility, intangibility, flight, clones, ghost shield, and ice powers, the others did the same. Hinata could see almost 360 degrees, although she insisted it was not that good of a range; her cousin's was much better. She could also see far distances and great detail; and she could see through walls. She was like Superman! And if she hit you with her palm, she could close off pressure points that would either paralyze you or kill you, depending on what she was trying to do.

Sakura was a very talented medical ninja who could heal almost any wound, as long as it wasn't too fatal. She also had super strength, again like Superman. He was beginning to think that if all of them were put together, it would make the ultimate superhero. Sai could make his drawings come to life and either spy for him or attack people, which was actually kind of scary.

Naruto's powers were the strongest, it seemed, in brute force, as he told Danny that he couldn't do most of them indoors without breaking something. He did show him the shadow clones, however, and the fact that he could summon toads. The first time that Danny met Gamakichi, an abnormally large toad that spoke Japanese and apparently had a bit of an attitude, he almost screamed. 'What kinds of toads are 2 feet tall and speak?' he'd thought. Naruto claimed there were toads that were bigger and smarter than Gamakichi, and Danny shuddered. He did **not** want to meet them.

By the end of the month, the four shinobi had mastered English with an American dialect, having learned from Danny, and Danny had picked up a little Japanese, although he decided that it was a much more difficult language to learn and settled for a few choice words here and there. Naruto had more than happily supplied Danny with some of his favorites.

In fact, Naruto and Danny were becoming close friends. For Naruto, Danny was the first person who didn't constantly berate him whenever he spoke, and he was kind of like a lazier, more laid-back version of himself, a fact that Sakura frequently commented on. While Danny didn't have Naruto's loud, outgoing nature, both sought for acceptance from their peers, and both had an innate curiosity that often got them into trouble. Most of all, they were both naïve and loyal to a fault.

While they had managed to stay out of trouble for the time being, excluding the time when Naruto decided to prank Tom, the innkeeper. Naruto referred to him as the Jailer, since it was his job to make sure the teens didn't leave their rooms. Not that he had any chance of success if they decided that they wanted to leave. Hence the night that Naruto snuck downstairs and painted every table in the pub bright orange. Poor Tom had been in hysterics. Nobody knew where he'd gotten the paint, but it was safe to say that Naruto was under threat of dismemberment via Sakura's chakra scalpel if he ever ventured out again.

* * *

Just when they thought they'd go crazy from lack of activity, Dumbledore made his promised visit. They were all in the boys' room, which had become the common area, for some reason, even though it was messier, smellier, and more crowded. Their best guess was that the girls simply wanted their privacy. They could care less; they didn't really have anything to hide.

And so Dumbledore found them, deep in discussion about American music, with Danny playing a Dumpty Humpty track that was stored on his cell phone. Sakura and Hinata both sat on the two plush chairs that were in the room. Sai was sitting on the windowsill, listening and drawing at the same time. Danny was sprawled on his bed, holding the phone, and Naruto was….

"Hello, old man! Look, I know English now!" called a voice from above. Looking up, the wizard saw the blonde boy seated upside down on the ceiling. Well, there was something you didn't see every day.

Naruto did a small flip down to the floor and stood at attention. The rest of the shinobi stood and did the same, minus the flip, of course. Danny simply closed his phone, looking slightly annoyed, and sat up on the bed. 'Americans,' though Dumbledore, amusedly.

"Ok, now that you all can understand me…that is correct, yes?" After seeing all five heads nod, he continued, "Good, good. Well, then, let's talk about the next step. I don't have much time; I have a few things to take care of, so please save your questions."

Naruto, who had already opened his mouth to speak, closed it, looking slightly put out. Dumbledore continued, his eyes twinkling.

"Well then, the reason that I hired the shinobi is that one of my students, Harry Potter, was attacked by dementors a day or so from when you were first told of your mission. Such an outright assault made it clear that Voldemort was getting progressively bolder as time moved on, and so Harry would need increased protection while at school. Indeed, the whole school will need more protection, especially since the Ministry is doing everything it can to force me to leave it, in which case it will be quite open to attack. Hence, I wish for you to pretend to be foreign exchange students. I know we've discussed this before, but I want it fresh in your minds.

"Now that you have learned English, I'd like you to study wizarding culture. You cannot be surprised by anything that we have in our world, or else you will look quite suspicious. This book, Hogwarts: a History, will be quite beneficial in understanding the school itself. Now, you will also be studying magical theory. I cannot get you wands just yet, but hopefully you can learn all of the incantations and motions needed for this year. If you study your upcoming coursework now, it should give you more time to practice spell work once you are at school with your wands.

"Speaking of wands, Molly Weasley will take you to get them and the rest of your items the day before you leave for school. She is a wonderful witch active in the Order of the Phoenix, an organization made up of witches and wizards who fight against Voldemort in secret. By the way, neither she nor anyone else in this group knows that you are more than exchange students, and I feel it should remain this way. I am the only one. In addition, Hogwarts will pay for your essentials, but you must pay for anything extra on your own. Also, I have discovered that very few know who Danny is, even among Muggle-borns, so let us keep Danny Phantom a secret, shall we? There is much prejudice against Half-breeds in this world, unfortunately. Some Ministry officials and teachers may know, but I'll instruct those who do know to keep it a secret.

"Now, you've been given all that you need, be sure to read the mission files I've left for you; they detail every student and teacher in the school, by house. I understand that shinobi have photographic memories; it would be good to memorize all of the information. As for you, Danny, simply do the best that you can. Remember, stay in your rooms. Trust me; you'll have plenty to occupy yourselves with. I shall see you again at Hogwarts. Good luck!"

With that, the famous wizard turned on his heel and disappeared with a loud _crack_, leaving five very overwhelmed teenagers in his wake.

"THIS SUCKS!!" Naruto shouted to the empty space that had been occupied just moments before.

For once, everyone agreed.

* * *

A/N: So Chapter four is written, just needs to be typed. Diagon Alley! AKA pets, wands, robes, and Muggle clothes? Hey, they have to fit in somehow! Up as soon as it's typed!!


	4. Chapter 4: Diagon Alley

Chapter four up after one day! I'm so proud! Actually, you can thank **I-dont-like-pen-names**. That was my first review, and I got so excited that I just had to get this up. Plus, I was bored at work…lol.

ANYWAYS, thank you for the review. I'm glad that you like it; I was worried that it was too wordy, so let me know if it gets bad. I feel better now! D As for fight scenes, there will eventually be a Danny/Naruto spar that should be fun (to write at least) coming up….

Most chapter comments are at the end, so I don't give anything away. But, as always, review and enjoy! …please.

Xoxo,

Nicky

**PS—I don't own Naruto, Danny Phantom, or Harry Potter**. If I did, Harry would be much less annoying in the fifth book. I like Naruto's angst better; it's more…well…hidden. Just my opinion.

"_Japanese speaking"_

"English speaking"

'thinking'

**

* * *

**

Chapter Four:

**Diagon Alley**

"Operation Wizard Study," as Danny had called the month following Dumbledore's second visit, went by quickly, just as the old man had promised. Still, by its end the five teens were ready to snap. They had seen the same five people in the same two rooms for two months without reprieve, with the exception of Danny's secret nighttime trips to a nearby public restroom to charge his phone in one of the outlets; invisibly, of course.

While they were still relatively civil towards each other, Sakura was beginning to lash out at Naruto and Sai even more, sometimes extending her wrath towards Danny if he wasn't careful. Hinata had stopped fainting almost completely, but Naruto was starting to get concerned about her health; her face was constantly a beet red, and she still stuttered, though it was improving slightly. Sai stopped talking after a certain point, because everything he said tended to start a fight. Most days were passed in silent reading. When that grew too dull they'd train by having Naruto make some clones in order to force the room to increase size, and then leave a few standing at its edges so it would retain its volume. That way they could at least stay in shape.

Needless to say, when Molly Weasley opened the door to the room, she was greeted as if she were the newly elected Minster of Magic. When she had heard that the five teenage boys the same age as her youngest son were cooped up in the same space for 2 months, she had expected to walk in upon utter chaos. Consequently, she was shocked to walk into a relatively neat room, with the exception of some books strewn across the floor, with five eager eyes staring at her expectantly. She didn't know this, but Hinata had seen her enter the Leaky Cauldron five minutes ago, and they had been waiting excitedly ever since, since she matched Dumbledore's description.

"Well hello, dears. I'm Mrs. Weasley," their savior said, smiling.

"Really?! FINALLY!" shouted a blonde boy, jumping in the air. Well, this was closer to the welcome that she had expected.

"_Naruto, don't scare Molly-san!_" a pink-haired girl shouted, thumping the blonde on the head.

"_N-Naruto-kun…_" stammered a white-eyed girl.

"_Ugly, don't kill dick-less over there,_" said a boy with a peculiarly vacant expression.

"_Don't call me that! Your nicknames are awful!_" the pink-haired girl delivered another punch, this time to the boy that had just spoken.

"Uh, guys? You're speaking Japanese again. And you're scaring Mrs. Weasley," stated another black-haired boy that was obviously torn between laughing and cowering in fear of another punch by the pink-haired teen.

The four that were fighting suddenly straightened; the two boys that had been hit were holding their heads. Then, in an instant, they became extremely professional.

"Excuse us, Molly-san, but my friends can be…excitable," stated the pink-haired girl. Mrs. Weasley found it odd that she considered her friends to be the "excitable" ones, when she had been the one to violently punch them, but she ignored this.

"My name is Sakura Haruno," continued the girl, "and these are my companions, Danny Fenton, Naruto Uzumaki, Hinata Hyuuga, and Sai. We are very happy to meet you."

"Well, thank you, Sakura. But please, call me Mrs. Weasley. Now, before we go, I've brought some clothes from Dumbledore that should help you fit in. It's Muggle wear, but it'll look as if you've just left the London streets, which is what it is meant to look like, really. Here you are, now come downstairs when you're changed."

Handing the four shinobi their clothes, she left them to go change. Danny didn't bother; he was a Muggle for most of his life, so the only things he owned were Muggle clothes. When they met downstairs, Danny was somewhat shocked to see them dressed normally, especially Sakura and Sai.

Sakura had on a pink t-shirt with red flowers strewn across it, and a red skirt. She wore red thong sandals, but kept the ribbon in her hair. Sai was a big change; he had on a pair of faded, slightly torn jeans, sneakers, and a black top with a faded Rolling Stones symbol on the front. Danny tried not to laugh; this was definitely not Sai's style. Hinata had on a nice pair of jeans, tennis shoes, and a purple hoodie; she really hadn't changed much. Naruto's outfit was surprisingly simple. He wore sneakers, jeans, and a white top with his favorite red spiral on the back. Danny knew that it was Naruto's own t-shirt; the one that he'd been given was green, a color that Naruto seemed to avoid at all costs.

With a last check to see that they were all present, Mrs. Weasley shepherded them into a small courtyard behind the bar, where they were met with a brick wall.

"Nani? A brick wall? Mol—Mrs. Weasley, what is going on?" Naruto asked, confused.

The other three, though not as vocal, were wondering the same, while Danny was less concerned; his ability to phase through walls made him forget their usefulness as a barrier. Mrs. Weasley laughed.

"Oh, dear, I forgot you've never been here before! How silly of me. Well, you see, this is the way to Diagon Alley! This is just security to keep any Muggles from wandering in accidentally." With that she tapped a few bricks in sequence, and the wall slid back to reveal the bustling wizard market known as Diagon Alley.

Wizards and witches, some in flowing, colorful robes, others in strange outfits obviously meant to imitate "Muggle attire," were hustling happily from store to store, arms laden with packages. On one corner, a huge, white, stone building with large bronze doors drew their attention, the words "Gringotts Bank" printed above the entryway. Shops lined the street, filled with strange items significant only in the wizarding world, such as broomsticks and large black pots. Danny was shocked to see a complete lack of technology; it seemed the only power that they relied upon was magic.

"Well, don't stand there gaping like first years, come along now, we haven't got all day!" said Mrs. Weasley happily as she guided them into Flourish and Botts. The store was filled with books about magic, many of which they had already read, but they still needed their own course books; the ones they had been studying were part of Dumbledore's collection, and had to be returned.

After picking up their books, they weaved through the crowd, Mrs. Weasley expertly maneuvering them towards the Apothecary, where they were to pick up potions ingredients.

Naruto declared that it smelled awful, and his friends agreed. Then, upon spotting the toad entrails set aside as necessary potions ingredients, he resolutely refused to buy them, horrified. Sakura distracted him by getting him to picture a bunch of wizards trying to get Gamabunta's liver for their potion. Naruto left the shop laughing, his mind painting a picture of the huge boss toad being zapped by little men with sticks.

The next stop was The Cauldron Shop, which passed without incident, except when Naruto voiced his desire for an orange cauldron, horrified that they mostly came in black. Sakura ensured that his request was denied. They then headed towards Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions, where they were to get their school uniforms and robes. Which, to Naruto's dismay, were also black.

"Why is this school obsessed with black? Some of these wizards are wearing purple and blue robes! Why do I have to wear black? What about—"

"Naruto-baka, if you even **think** the word 'orange,' I will kill you!"

"G-gomen, Sakura-chan," Naruto stuttered, sounding a bit like Hinata in his fear of Sakura's fury.

After trying on the "dresses," as Naruto had dubbed them, the only thing left on their school list was wands.

"Well, I don't know what happened to yours…it says here that you all had hand-me-downs, and Dumbledore wants me to get you new ones? Well that's awfully kind of him…I never…" Mrs. Weasley began to trail off, deep in thought, as she hurried toward Ollivander's, a small, shabby shop nestled in the alley.

Stopping at its door, she stated quickly, "Now, this is where you'll get your wands. Sakura, here is the money for them. I must go and take care of some things, and then I will pick you up here. If you'd like, I'll exchange your money for our currency at Gringotts, our bank; that way, you can buy a pet or other trinket, and you'll have some to spend in Hogsmeade as well."

The five handed over their wallets, Danny keeping a few dollars just in case, and they headed into the shop as Mrs. Weasley bustled away. Entering the store, they saw a spindly chair and a dusty counter, behind which were hundreds of small, long boxes stacked from floor to ceiling. Suddenly a white-haired, white-eyed old man appeared behind the counter.

_"Hinata, he's got eyes like yours!" _Naruto whispered, grinning.

_"Y-Yes, N-naruto-kun," _she replied, _"b-but it isn't the s-same. H-he does n-not have the b-byakugan."_ Her cheeks were blushing furiously, but she did not faint. She was steadily improving her ability to hold a conversation with the hyperactive blonde.

Naruto's response was interrupted by the subject of their conversation.

"Well, then, you must be the five special young students that Dumbledore mentioned," the man said, eyes twinkling. "Well, let's see what we can do for you. You first, dearie. What's your name?"

"Sakura Haruno," she replied, stepping forward.

Immediately a measuring tape sprung to life, measuring her every limb, from forearm length to the width of her forehead. She made a move to defend herself from the intruding device, but was interrupted when the shopkeeper spoke again, the tape dropping to the counter.

"Try this, Sakura. Cherry wood and unicorn tail, 12 inches. Sturdy and springy; a very cheery wand."

She took the wand, eyeing it curiously.

"Go on, give it a wave!" Mr. Ollivander instructed.

She did just that, and an oil lamp shattered on the desk. The wand maker quickly snatched the wand from her hand.

"No, not that one! Here, try this. Cherry with a phoenix feather core, 11 ½ inches. Strong and firm, but with a warm character to it, if I must say."

Waving the wand a bit more hesitantly, it gave a pink warm glow before settling into her hand. Looking at Mr. Ollivander expectantly, she already knew his reply.

"Well, that's it, then, isn't it? Alright, let's have the other young lady. Your name is…?"

"H-hinata H-hyuuga," the girl stuttered nervously. She fell back onto her habit of touching her fingers together and looking at the floor. She was slightly intimidated by the man, and she was embarrassed to explode a lamp in front of Naruto. Or, worse, find out she had no magical affinity at all.

"No need to be afraid, dear. Come on over, there you go," Ollivander said, smiling gently. The tape measure once again sprung to life, and after it fell to a stop the old man returned with a box in hand.

"Try this. I think it should be the one. 10 ½ inches, rosewood with a hair from a lovely female unicorn. Mellow but resilient; quite a beautiful wand."

Waving it timidly, the wand simply gave off a calming, lavender glow.

"Very good! And on the first try! Now, let's have the next young man. You there, what's your name?"

"Sai."

Looking into the boy's startlingly emotionless, coal black eyes, Mr. Ollivander knew that this would not be an easy match, simply because the boy's character was impossible to read. As his tape measure did its job, he grabbed a few boxes.

"Well, let's see. Try this one…"

Ten wands later, the shopkeeper figured that he had the boy's personality pegged, finally. Glancing unhappily about his shop, which looked as though a hurricane had gone through it, he handed over the wand.

"Walnut with a dragon heartstring core, 12 inches. Strong and rigid; a very reliable wand."

Sai waved it, grinning in his strange way, as his friends ducked. After Naruto had been struck in the head by a falling shelf laden with wand boxes, they had learned to take cover at the sight of a wand in Sai's hands. This time, however, it emitted a black glow, much to everyone's relief.

"Well then, very good. Now, how about you, young man?" he asked, turning to Danny. Naruto gave a huff of disappointment at being last, but he was ignored.

"Uh, ok. I'm Danny Fenton."

"Oh! Of course you are! Well then, Dumbledore's told me about you. Don't worry, mum's the word," he said, winking, "but I needed to ask my fellow craftsman, Mr. Gregorovitch, for some wand cores in order to get you the perfect match. I usually only make wands of dragon heartstring, unicorn hair, or phoenix feather, you know. I thought you'd need a little…more, however."

Without bothering to use the measuring tape, Ollivander handed Danny a thin wand. "Yew with a runespoor fang core, 11 inches. Strong and powerful, and well-suited for the dark arts, although I do believe that is not your pursuit. You know, the dark arts deal largely with a fascination with death, something that should be of particular significance in your case."

Danny took the wand uncomfortably, but knew as soon as he touched it that this was a perfect match. It made sense; his ghost powers meant he was tuned to the darker side of magic, despite the fact that he actively battled against it. Waving his wand, it gave out a green glow, sparking with an invisible current.

"Well then, I was right. Wonderful!" Looking very proud of himself, the wand maker turned to the last teen before him. Dumbledore had told him that the blonde child was special, although he didn't specify how, so he had left the boy for last.

"Now, you must be Naruto Uzumaki. Let's get you a wand, shall we?"

Naruto was slightly shocked that the man knew his name, but figured that, since Dumbledore had told him about Danny, he'd at least told him all of their names. He fidgeted as the measuring tape did its job. Soon Mr. Ollivander emerged from the rows of boxes, his arms laden with wands to try. Naruto groaned. He'd be just like Sai, going through a million wands.

"Great. Whatcha got for me, old man? It better be super powerful, I'm gonna be Hokage someday!" Ducking from Sakura's fist, he smiled and grabbed the first wand handed to him, waving it in a large, exaggerated motion to make his point. He loved annoying people sometimes, and this was a great opportunity.

To his surprise, and apparently Mr. Ollivander's as well, the wand literally blew up, as did the next three. The wand maker immediately changed tactics, choosing wands that were able to contain the sheer magnitude of magic that this boy was forcing through it, though these, too, proved insufficient, although they didn't explode. Naruto had unusually large chakra reserves, which were only increased by the presence of the Kyuubi, and his control left much to be desired, so it was only natural that he required a more powerful wand. Not that Mr. Ollivander knew this; he just figured the boy had too much magic in his system.

Fifteen wands and a decimated shop later, Ollivander pulled out another wand he'd made using Gregorovitch's cores. He'd never thought this wand would have an owner; he'd made it mostly to see if it could be done.

"Well, this is a very unique wand. Holly and chimaera scale, 13 inches. Very powerful, yet it has a dual personality. Holly is a ward against evil, and yet its core originates from a very cruel and destructive creature. Not many chimaera wands are made at all, you know, not too easy to get near one…"

Glancing at Sakura, Naruto took the wand carefully. Immediately a blue glow was emitted, and it too crackled as if saturated with electricity, but the sparks emitted were red, not blue. Naruto sighed with relief when the strange glow faded; he knew that the red sparks came from the Kyuubi's chakra, which was constantly flowing with his own, and didn't want anyone to be suspicious. He was, however, surprised that the demon fox's chakra was visible. When he used his own chakra in a jutsu, the Kyuubi's was always hidden, unless he drew upon it himself. His thoughts were interrupted by Ollivander.

"Interesting. It seems your magic has a dual nature, along with your wand. No wonder..."

Naruto cut off his next thought quickly, feigning impatience. "Well, thanks a ton, old man! But Molly-san, I mean, Mrs. Weasley, is waiting, and we need to go! Bye!"

Sakura quickly paid the shopkeeper, thanking him, and walked out after Naruto, followed by Sai, who was extremely interested in the wand incident. He knew what the red chakra was, and knew that Naruto did not like being reminded of the demon sealed inside him. 'Now, what did those books say to do when your friend was upset?' he wondered. Meanwhile, Hinata and Danny looked confused, but they soon forgot the incident after Mrs. Weasley found them, holding a broom.

"Well, then! Got your wands, have you?" Barely stopping to look and see if they did, in fact, have them, she continued, "Good! Now we're in a hurry, but we have time to find a pet, if you'd like. We'll stop at Eeylops Owl Emporium first; best post owls around, they say. If you'd like something else, we can head to the Magical Menagerie after." Handing them their wallets, Mrs. Weasley pushed them into the shop.

The walls were lined with owls of all varieties in cages, some hooting loudly and others sleeping quietly in a corner. Danny spotted a large, beautiful snowy owl, and thought that it looked cool. He wanted a way to communicate with his family and friends while at school, since his phone wouldn't work, so he jumped at the opportunity. Plus, it matched his ghost half's attire. Walking away from the counter with his newly purchase pet, he decided to name it Spooky. Not very original, but it seemed to fit.

Sai had decided that an owl would be a practical thing for the shinobi to have, and, noticing that none of his other friends seemed to be making a purchase besides Danny, chose to get one himself. He spotted a quiet, small brown owl with a subtle but attractive pattern on its feathers, and decided it was a good choice. Somehow it seemed to mirror his own personality. Leaving the store, he was approached by Sakura.

"Sai, that's a nice owl! What's its name?"

Sai looked down. She knew that he never named anything that he drew; how could he name an owl?

She seemed to read his mind. "Sai, I think you need to name it. It's the perfect opportunity. Besides, Danny named his Spooky, so there's no way that you could have a name that's worse."

Sai felt a bit of warmth when she said that, which he took to be gratitude, and so decided he should indeed name it. "I'll name him Tawny. Because it can also be called a tawny owl."

Sakura frowned a little at the second unoriginal name of the day, but knew that it was an accomplishment for Sai to even think of a name, good or bad. "Cool, Sai. Now, it's my turn!"

They headed to the Magical Menagerie, excited to see the animals inside. Naruto had decided not to get an owl after seeing the steep prices, knowing that he could use toads to get a message through, if needed. He hoped that he could afford something at this next store, but upon walking in, he was disappointed. He looked around at the cages full of snakes, toads, cats, and other various magical animals, and decided to leave before he saw something he really liked. He never had much money, using most of it for food, rent, and supplies, but he'd dealt with it his whole life, and wasn't about to complain now.

Sakura was immediately drawn to the cats, specifically a large, gray and black tiger-striped one whose brilliant green eyes betrayed a bit of intelligence and curiosity that she couldn't ignore. Walking from the purchasing counter, she decided on a name. It was dark-colored, but its eyes were bright and clear. She decided to name it Kikkyou, which literally meant sunshine shadow, or fortune.

Hinata had noticed that Naruto was upset about not being able to afford a pet, and considered buying him one as a present, but decided she could never work up the nerve to give it to him. It was then that she saw Sai reading one of his books on dealing with people, opened to a chapter on cheering up a friend. 'So he noticed, too,' thought Hinata. This gave her an idea. She knew Sai had a large reserve of money earned from his work in Root, a branch of the elite ANBU division of shinobi, and would not have a problem making one more purchase.

"S-sai-kun, you know, a present is a g-good way to make someone happier. For e-example, if N-naruto-kun were sad, he would l-love a p-pet. He c-can't a-afford one himself." Her stuttering was always reduced when not around Naruto, but she was blushing at her relatively bold suggestion to Sai.

After seeing him look up with a strange look on his face, which she assumed meant that he got the message, she went off to find her own pet. She stumbled upon a small, white mouse that was staring up at her expectantly, and decided it was the perfect match. She chose to name it Teisei, or whisper, and walked outside to meet with Mrs. Weasley and the three others. Sai followed her a few minutes later, carrying a red furry bundle.

"Sai, is that a...a fox?!" shouted Naruto, earning a few glances from passing wizards. 'Why would Sai buy a fox?' he thought, curiously. Sakura was thinking the same thing. 'Of all the pets in the world...'

Sai smiled, this time looking genuinely pleased. "Yes. It's a fox. I bought it for you, Naruto. The books said--"

Sakura cut him off before he could say anything that would make Naruto mad rather than grateful, such as using a book as an excuse to buy him a strange pet. Naruto looked at Sai, confused. Foxes were something that he tried to avoid, yet Sai was getting him one. It **was** kind of cute...it had fiery red-orange fir, and its feet, ears, and tail were tipped with black. And it wasn't a demon, like the one inside of him. This one was little, and harmless.

Sai recovered from Sakura's threatening glare and continued, explaining, "I know that you wanted a pet. This fox is useful as a messenger as well as a playmate. It said so on the card below its cage. And she is fully trained. She is really quite...sweet."

At hearing Sai call something sweet, Naruto decided that he really was trying to be nice, and that he had to accept the gift. Besides, it **was** kind of sweet...

"Um, thanks, Sai. Thanks a lot! I'll name her Kasai, for the will of fire. Plus, that way it's sorta named after you."

Danny was shocked; since when did Sai do the **right** thing in a social situation? Maybe the boy was changing; he had been locked up with them long enough to pick up a few things. Naruto seemed pleased. He had hoisted the fox onto his head, letting it rest there. Danny had seen Gamakichi, the toad, sit on Naruto's head after being summoned when the blonde was showing off his justus, and figured that the messy hair must make a perfect resting spot for animals. He hoped his hair never got that bad.

Mrs. Weasley decided to interrupt the moment before things went awry; she knew from having 6 sons that when a boy gave another boy a present, the situation could soon get awkward, and then degenerate into a fight. She didn't understand why, but she'd seen it happen too many times to count.

"Well then, that was very nice, Sai. I have to be going now, my son Ron's been made prefect—you'll meet him, he's a good boy—and I want to get back. We're planning a bit of a party for him. Now, I'm sure that foxes aren't usually allowed at Hogwarts, but I'm sure that Dumbledore will make an exception. Kasai is so small, she could be a cat, anyway."

Walking back to the Leaky Cauldron, the five teens realized how tired they were. After saying their goodbyes to Mrs. Weasley, they headed back to their rooms, where they found large trunks waiting to be packed with their new supplies. After shoving them full of both school books and weaponry, cleverly hiding the latter among their extra robes, they sank into their beds, exhausted. Naruto laid on his sleeping bag with Kasai still curled around his head in place of his nightcap. Danny and Sai were in their respective beds, their owls sleeping in their cages nearby. Hinata had Teisei curled up at her throat, and Kikkyou was sleeping at the foot of Sakura's bed.

They slept lightly, anxious for tomorrow to come, for with it came their train ride to Hogwarts.

Tomorrow, their mission would officially begin.

* * *

SO, I hope you enjoyed it. Let me know if the Japanese is wrong, but I did look it up, even though the internet can often be deceiving. In reality I know absolutely zero Japanese. I do speak German though.

So, if you have a story where Naruto gets a fox, don't be mad at me for copying. I swear I didn't; I just like the idea. It's so un-Naruto, that it's perfect. It's not a demon fox and it doesn't have special powers, it's just like Hedwig or Crookshanks, only, well, a fox. And I'm obsessed with them lately. Don't ask why. And skunks, but that's an awkward pet.

Oh, and as for the Spooky thing, if you're familiar with Danny Phantom history, I'm sorry. I had to do it. Butch Hartman's idea couldn't be put entirely to waste….and it's SO deliciously corny!

Oh, and, if you're wondering, there are no real non-canon relationships that are gonna happen for sure. There's definitely Harry/Cho and Danny/Sam, since that's obvious. I'm playing with NaruHina and NaruSaku, since the manga does, too, but I don't know where I'm gonna go with it. AND people may or may not finally realize how much of a hottie Naruto is…I mean, blonde hair, blue eyes, AND a tight body? Come on, people. What else is there? Lol.

Chapter five in progress of being typed…so up soon? The gang goes to Hogwarts! Yay!


	5. Chapter 5: The Hogwarts Express

Well, here we are, Chapter 5! This chapter makes me nervous, because it's the first time that all three characters really come together…much excitement, but many chances to screw up! Lol.

I got 2 more reviews, so I forced myself to stop being lazy and get this out. To **I-don't-like-pen-names**, your reviews are really helpful! I appreciate it a lot. And thanks for continuing to inspire me to not revert to crappy writing. At least, what I consider to be crappy writing…others may disagree. Haha. I've got 8 chapters written as rough drafts and I'm still going strong (this is gonna be a LONG fic I think) and I know where I'm going, so I plan to finish this baby!

To **Vampires.Blood.Bank**, thanks for the review! Don't worry; as long as your fic doesn't follow mine verbatim, I'm not too worried. And it doesn't. lol. I hope this update makes you happy; they get sorted in Chapter 6, so Monday or Tuesday! I have to rewrite it first. My first versions always suck. ;-)

Everyone read my reviewers' stories! They're good, trust me! And with that, I'll leave you to read.

xoxo,

Nicky

**PS—I don't own Naruto, Danny Phantom, or Harry Potter**. But if you don't read the manga, you should. OMG for emo Naruto. Such sadness. But I love it. And Sora is confusing me (anime).

"_Japanese speaking"_

"English speaking"

'thinking'

* * *

**Chapter Five:**

**The Hogwarts Express**

The next morning, a Sunday, the five teenagers that had been reluctantly staying in the Leaky Cauldron for the past two months were finally allowed to leave. Putting on their "Muggle clothes" so they would fit in with the usual London crowd, they combed over the rooms for any items that might have been left behind and readied to leave their room at last. Teisei was placed in Hinata's pocket, Tawny and Snowy were secured in their cages atop Sai's and Danny's trunks, Kikkyou was calmly waiting at Sakura's feet, and Kasai was cradled in Naruto's left arm, the other free to carry his trunk. He would have placed her on his head again, but Danny pointed out that it would seem strange for a fox to be riding a 16-year-old's head in the middle of London.

Once downstairs, Tom told them how to get to King's Cross Station, where they were to go to Platform Nine-and-Three-Quarters and walk through a wall to get to the Hogwarts train. Eager to get rid of them, he shoved the tickets into their hands and pushed them out the door to find it on their own. Seeing the shinobi's awestruck expressions at the cars going by on the road, Danny decided to take charge. He called up a taxi company to get them to bring a van to take the five to the train station, since it was a bit too far to walk, and, after finally loading the van with all of their trunks and pets, they arrived at the station. Danny paid in American dollars, much to the driver's annoyance, but tipped him enough to compensate, or so he hoped.

They arrived early at the station, as planned, so that they wouldn't miss the train. During the entire ride there, the shinobi had been pointing and gasping with wonder at the sights of London. Danny was awed by it, too, but it seemed the shinobi were just as surprised by the fact that they were riding in a moving piece of metal as they were by the massive architecture. He'd had to explain everything to them, once they saw it: why there were different types of cars, why the buildings were so tall, what that big white metal bird was in the sky, and more. He was grateful for their arrival, hoping their curiosity would end, but only encountered more questions about the station's turntables, the electric trains, and the rolling bags following everyone.

Finally they arrived between Platforms 9 and 10. They decided to wait for someone to enter the platform to the Hogwarts Express before attempting it themselves, recalling the trick wall at the Leaky Cauldron. Not too much later, a blonde girl arrived with a strangely amused look on her face, as if nothing in the world surprised her, yet she was entertained by its effort to do so. She was accompanied by a man they assumed to be her father; he, too, seemed a bit...off. When they easily walked through the wall, the five decided that they should try it as well, feeling foolish for having waited to find out that they could have gotten through on their own the entire time.

"Now I know how you feel, Danny!" Naruto remarked happily as he stepped through the barrier.

"Well, that's not exactly it, but yeah, pretty close," the ghost-boy replied, smiling.

They were interrupted by Sakura's shout of surprise. "Guys! Look!"

In front of them was an incredibly massive black machine surrounded in a thick blanket of steam, like a great sleeping beast. Behind it were a line of passenger cars painted in a deep mahogany, bearing the words "Hogwarts Express" in gold letters. Hinata and Sai were speechless; they'd never seen a train before today, and this was much more magnificent than the ones on the other side of the wall. Naruto and Sakura had seen one during a mission to Snow Country, but it had been trying to kill Naruto at the time, and it was nowhere nearly as ornate as this. Danny was a little taken aback at its splendor, as well, though he'd seen his share of trains back home.

"Um, I-I think th-that we should go on n-now," stammered Hinata, who was still staring at the metal behemoth.

That snapped them to their senses. Naruto decided to take charge, since he was supposed to be the mission leader, even though he'd let Sakura do most of the work so far. "Ok, well let's get in the last car. We won't attract as much attention that way."

They proceeded to do just that, and, finding a compartment occupied only by the blonde girl on the train, asked to sit with her. She looked up from her magazine, The Quibbler, smiled vaguely, and went back to reading, an action they took to be an invitation. Hinata and Sakura sat next to the blonde, who introduced herself as Luna Lovegood after Hinata took the seat next to her. Sai grabbed the window seat across from Luna, and immediately began drawing a picture of the train from memory. Naruto sat next to Sai, slightly disappointed at missing the window seat, while Danny sat next to Naruto, glad that he didn't have to sit next to Sai or that weird Luna girl. They settled in their seats, quiet in a nervous anticipation for the train to start.

* * *

Meanwhile, a messy-haired, green-eyed 16-year-old boy with a unique lightning bolt shaped scar was trying to find a seat on the train to Hogwarts. Harry Potter's summer had not been a good one. He had been branded a liar by his fellow wizards for truthfully stating that Voldemort, the wizarding world's greatest enemy, had returned, and he still didn't know what the Dark Lord was doing. His scar was relentlessly prickling, so that he always had a slight headache, and his headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, was completely ignoring him. He and his cousin had been attacked by dementors, which he had defeated only to be punished and blamed for the attack by his aunt and uncle, and then nearly expelled from Hogwarts. The only way that he'd been allowed to return was to go to a hearing at the Ministry of Magic, where it was confirmed that even the Minister himself thought Harry an attention-seeking prat.

Now he'd been left behind by his two best friends, who had been chosen as Prefects instead of him, because they had to go attend to their newly acquired responsibilities. He was getting looks of mistrust, curiosity, and pity from everyone on the train that he'd encountered so far, and was beginning to wish he'd stayed with his godfather in his house at Number 12 Grimmauld Place. Accompanied by Ginny Weasley, his best friend Ron's younger sister, he searched for a compartment to hide from the ogling eyes of his classmates. Coming to the last car, he saw Neville Longbottom struggling with his toad, trunk, and a large, ugly, bulbous plant all in his hands at the same time. Harry grabbed Trevor, the toad, before Neville could drop him, and greeted his clumsy and forgetful friend.

"Hello, Neville. Good holiday?" he asked, pocketing the toad so that he could carry his own trunk more easily.

"Hey, Harry. Thanks for grabbing Trevor...there's no place open," gasped the tall, thin, buck-toothed, round-faced teen, his mind obviously not on the conversation. His brown hair hung messily in his eyes as he struggled with his trunk.

Just then, a door opened, and a pink-haired girl stuck her head out, apparently curious to see what all the commotion was outside her door. She smiled when she saw them, and beckoned them to join her, speaking with a slight Asian accent.

"Hi there! We can make room in here if you'd like!"

Neville shook his head shyly, but Ginny pushed the two boys forwards.

"Sure, we'd love to join you! Thanks!" said the long-haired, brown-eyed, red-headed fourth year, pushing the two older boys into the compartment.

"But there's no room..." Harry protested, spying the six teens already seated there. He really didn't feel like meeting any new people today; he was in a bad mood, and he didn't want to put up with any more strange looks being thrown his way. Plus, the compartment **was** pretty full.

"Nonsense!" said the girl from before. She waved her wand and the compartment immediately expanded to accommodate them.

"What did you do, Sakura-chan? I didn't know that you could do...that! When did you..." a blonde-haired boy spoke out, nearly jumping out of his seat in his excitement. Harry noticed he had scars on his face, almost like whiskers, but decided not to inquire about it. He'd seen stranger things in the wizarding world.

"Oh, it was easy. I read about it. You know, baka, some of us do read. It's called an Undetectable Extension Charm," answered the girl, as if it were the simplest thing in the world. 'What's a baka?' Harry wondered. He then realized something even more significant.

"Wow, you sound like Hermione," burst out Harry, before he could stop himself. His two friends laughed. The girl looked puzzled, but evidently didn't care enough to ask who Hermione was, to his relief. She'd most likely meet his friend soon enough, and Hermione was a difficult person to explain.

"Thank you? Anyways, my name is Sakura Haruno. My friends and I are fifth-year exchange students. We're from Japan, except for Danny. He's from America."

"I'm Ginny Weasley, pleased to meet you! I didn't know that we'd be having exchange students," the youngest Weasley replied, sitting next to the pink-haired girl.

"I-it is a n-new program, Ginny-kun. Oh, and I am H-hinata H-hyuuga," stuttered a girl next to Sakura. Looking closer, Harry was shocked to see she had white eyes. He then remembered Ollivander, and thought perhaps it wasn't as strange as it seemed. The girl was blushing faintly. 'She must be terribly shy,' noted Harry.

"Hi, Hinata. Who's that next to you? Oh, hi, Luna! I didn't see you at first," Ginny said, waving at the blonde girl in the corner. Her magazine was now upside-down and she was studying it intently.

"Hello," she answered, lowering her magazine enough to look at the new occupants of the compartment. She looked closer, and, pointing to Harry's forehead, announced, "You're Harry Potter. And I don't know you," she finished, pointing to Neville.

Neville blushed, and replied, "Uh, I'm Neville Longbottom." He fidgeted and sat next to a black-haired teen that had been pointed out as the American. The boy then turned and shook Neville's hand.

"Hey, I'm Danny Fenton. Wassup?" he said, casually. Harry was somewhat surprised that none of them, save Luna, had shown any interest in his name, but he decided not to press his luck and sat down next to Neville. The five new students had actually known it was Harry since Hinata had seen them outside of their compartment struggling with the toad, so they were able to get over their shock at finding him before he got there, but of course they didn't mention this.

"And I'm Naruto Uzumaki!" announced the blonde boy, grinning happily. He then gestured to the boy next to him. "And this teme is Sai. Say hi, Sai! Stop drawing for two seconds!!" At this the blonde jabbed the boy rather hard in the ribs. 'Wow, that was harsh...' Harry thought.

"Hi," Sai responded, immediately returning to his drawing.

'Ok,' Harry thought, 'now I see why he was so mean to the kid...he's kind of a jerk.'

"Uh, Neville? What is that?" asked Naruto, pointing to the boil-covered plant in his hands.

"This? It's _Mimbulus Mimbletonia_, a really rare plant that Gran got for me. It's really great. They don't really know what it does yet, but it's got a really cool defense mechanism. Want to see?"

Harry inwardly cringed; once Neville got started on plants, he didn't stop. Naruto, however, seemed genuinely interested, and nodded his head in encouragement. At this, Neville prodded one of the boils on the plant rather forcefully. Suddenly it exploded, releasing foul smelling pus all over the compartment. The girls had been wise enough to cover their faces, but the boys all took the full blow of the pus-bomb. Except for Sai, who remained suspiciously clean. Just then, the door to the compartment opened to reveal Cho Chang, a pretty, black-haired Ravenclaw with stunning Asian features, and towards whom Harry had harbored a crush for at least a year. The only reason that he hadn't said anything to her yet was that she had been dating Cedric Diggory last year, but now that Cedric was dead...but that was something he didn't want to think about. He'd been there when Voldemort had killed the Hufflepuff student, and it was not a good memory.

"Um, is this a bad time? Sorry...er...just wanted to say hello, Harry!" she said quickly, before abruptly closing the door and leaving, blushing furiously.

Harry groaned inwardly. 'Of all the times for her to see me, it had to be now...'

His inner musings were interrupted by Naruto. "What IS this stuff?! It's so gross, and yet, so cool!" Harry stared at the ecstatic blonde. 'Does he really think being covered in this stuff is cool?' he wondered, not believing that anyone could enjoy the state that they were all in at the moment.

"I-It's Stinksap," replied Neville, apologetically. "I don't think it's poisonous..." This was added for Danny's sake; he had received a mouthful of the stuff in the middle of a particularly large yawn.

"Honestly, you boys are hopeless," Ginny sighed, before waving her wand, at the same time uttering an exasperated "_Scourgify!_" With this, the pus was gone, much to Harry's relief.

"Magic is so cool..." breathed Danny. Harry looked at him, questioningly, and he finished, quickly, "I mean, I never get sick of it, you know?" Harry had to agree with that; it was pretty cool.

* * *

The next half hour flew by, as Ginny told the new students some of the more exciting points of Hogwarts, such as the lake with the giant squid, the Great Hall with its enchanted ceiling, and the Forbidden Forest. Meanwhile, Harry's thoughts were elsewhere, worried about Sirius, who had accompanied them in dog form to the platform, and wondering where Ron and Hermione were. As his mood gradually darkened, the candy trolley arrived. Seeing Naruto's eager face and relatively empty wallet, which he had referred to as Gama-chan, Harry decided to treat them all to a variety of wizarding sweets. At seeing the chocolate frogs, Naruto hesitated.

"They aren't real frogs, are they?" After seeing the toad entrails in the Apothecary, he figured that you could never be too careful.

"Nonsense, dick-less, see?" Sai stated for the first time since he'd introduced himself, biting into one. "They are surprisingly good." With that Naruto shrugged, ignoring his unwanted nickname, and bit into his own. Grinning at its taste, he soon devoured ten more, surprising the wizards in the compartment and angering Sakura, who bashed the blonde over the head rather roughly. 'These kids are kind of violent...' thought Harry.

Neville took this time to retrieve Trevor from Harry's robes, where he'd fallen asleep as soon as Harry had sat down. Naruto looked up, happily. "You like toads? Me too! I have a lot of friends that are toads!"

Neville gave Naruto a strange look, wondering what kind of kid would openly announce he was good friends with a toad, but appreciated his praise of Trevor. Most people found the fat amphibian rather boring. Honestly, Neville found him dull, as well. Naruto, for his part, ignored Neville's look and continued talking, decided to show off his own animal.

"I have a pet, see? I named her Kasai. It's from Sai," continued Naruto, standing up and grabbing a ball of fur that had been resting atop his trunk in the overhead compartment. "She's sleeping, but she's pretty cool."

Harry was shocked to see a red fox in the boy's hands, especially one that had come from the quiet, slightly rude boy sitting sullenly by the window. "A fox?! Well, I guess that's...er...interesting! I've just got Hedwig." He pointed to the owl in its cage above his head.

"Oh, is that yours? I've got a snowy owl, too. Named him Spooky. Hedwig's pretty; how long have you had her?" Danny asked. He'd just woken up, having slept through Ginny's explanation of Hogwarts. He was opening up a box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans as he spoke.

"Since first year. She's a gift from Hagrid. You'll meet him; he's the groundskeeper and Care of Magical Creatures teacher," Harry replied, pleased at the compliment. "Oh, and be careful with those...I've seen someone get an earwax flavored one, once. It wasn't pretty."

Danny looked at him, and decided that he didn't want to risk it, grabbing a chocolate frog instead. Naruto snagged the beans. Apparently he didn't mind earwax. Harry decided that the boy could eat more than Ron, if he wanted.

Suddenly a cat leapt down from where it was sleeping next to Kasai, looking indignant at being ignored. Sakura laughed, leaving her conversation with Ginny to bring it into her lap. "This is Kikkyou. She's a bit jealous of all the attention, I think. The other owl up there is Tawny; that's Sai's." She glanced at Sai, who was now drawing something out the window. He ignored them.

"A-and this is T-teisei," whispered Hinata. She had not spoken since her introduction. Harry was shocked at how shy she was; even now her face was a bright shade of red. Of course, this was really because she was sitting directly across from Naruto, and he'd bumped her leg once or twice. She was proud of herself for retaining consciousness, but the fact that Naruto kept smiling at her every once in a while didn't help things at all. The blonde, naturally, remained oblivious to her plight, by now assuming her face was that shade permanently, as it was the only color he'd ever seen it.

Just then, the door flew open, revealing a tall, freckled, red headed boy with unkempt, short hair, accompanied by an attractive bushy-haired witch. Harry smiled, but the red-head simply gasped, mouth open.

"Bloody hell, Harry! Who are all these people? And that one kid could be your twin! And how do you all fit in here?" He was speaking a bit too loudly for Harry's comfort, and gesturing wildly, startling his small owl, Pigwidgeon, whose cage was in his hand.

"Honestly, Ron, you're about to kill Pig! And that's not his twin; he has blue eyes. You are so rude sometimes!" After scolding Ron, the girl pushed him down next to Harry, threw the owl into the overhead compartment, and sat next to Ginny, noticing the room had enlarged to adapt. "Wow, an Undetectable Extension Charm! Who did this? Oh dear, sorry to be so rude. My name is Hermione Granger, I'm a Prefect and a Gryffindor fifth year. You are...?"

Naruto could barely keep up with the girl's rapid speech, but eventually gathered the gist of her meaning and managed to be the first to reply, much to Sakura's chagrin. "I'm Naruto Uzumaki! We're transfer students in your year! Oh, and Sakura-chan did the spell; she was showing off."

Sakura reddened, reaching over and punching the blonde before she responded. "I was not! Anyways, I'm Sakura Haruno, nice to meet you! This is Hinata Hyuuga, Sai, and Danny Fenton," she said, introducing the rest of her friends in turn, "oh, and that's Luna Lovegood in the corner; we've only just met her. I take it you know Harry, Neville, and Ginny?"

"Geez, Sakura-chan, you really went overboard on the introductions, didn't you?" Naruto teased, and then quickly used Danny as a human shield when she looked ready to hit him again. "Sakura-chan! Don't kill me! I was kidding!!"

Hermione laughed; she'd often wanted to do that to Ron, even though it was a bit...excessive. "Why do you call her Sakura Chan if her name is Sakura Haruno?"

Danny answered this time, figuring it'd be easier to understand from him. When he'd asked previously, the shinobi had simply looked confused and answered, "Because we do?"

"Well, it's like an honorific they attach to the ends of names. _Chan_ is for cute girls and close friends, _kun_ is like a term of endearment, usually towards guys, _sama_ is for someone important, and _san_ is just the standard title. Then they have others, like _teme_, _baka,_ and _baa-chan_, but those are less formal, and not very honorable. They're Japanese; I'm not, obviously." He smiled at that, proud of his newly gained knowledge of Japanese. He'd picked up a few things in the past two months.

Ginny spoke up for him, answering Hermione's next question before she could get it out. "Danny's from the States, Hermione. Although I'm sure you could tell, from his accent." At that Danny rolled his eyes. To him, everyone else had the funny accents. But he wasn't about to bring that up.

Suddenly Crookshanks leapt onto Hermione's lap, giving a haughty glance towards Kikkyou before settling down for a nap. Hermione laughed. "I hope that Crookshanks and your cat get along, Sakura. I think that Crookshanks is a bit jealous right now."

Sakura laughed, "Oh no, Kikkyou will behave himself. It's Kasai you have to worry about; that's Naruto's fox. Knowing Naruto, she is going to be a handful."

At hearing its name, the fox pricked its ears before going back to sleep. Naruto was about to object, but Sakura, Ginny, and Hermione were now in deep conversation about something or other. Naruto wasn't able to catch what they were saying, so he turned to Danny, who was sleeping again. Harry and Ron were talking about a big black dog, Sai was still drawing, and Hinata was silently playing with Teisei, every once in a while commenting on something one of the other girls had said. Defeated, he turned to Luna, who was still reading upside-down.

"Um, Luna? What are you reading?" He was so bored, he'd been reduced to inquire about literature. He groaned. 'And I thought trains would be fun!'

"_The Quibbler_," she replied, "Would you like to see?"

He shrugged, having nothing better to do at the moment. He opened it to see some articles about various magical creatures that weren't mentioned in the Care of Magical Creatures text that he'd had to study, as well as a ridiculous article about the escaped convict Sirius Black being a lounge singer, and therefore innocent. Naruto and his friends had been briefed on Sirius Black in Dumbledore's files, so he knew that the man was innocent, but for a different reason. Still, it was kind of funny. He handed it to Harry, thinking he'd appreciate any attempt to clear the man that he'd known to be the guy's godfather's name. He was right; Harry began to smile slightly despite himself, although Hermione turned down her nose at the article, prompting Luna to swiftly reclaim it.

* * *

Just as Naruto was beginning to knod off, having once again been left out of the ongoing conversations in the compartment, the door slid open again. He leaned forward excitedly; each time that door opened, something cool happened. Standing in the doorway was a thin boy with bleach-blonde hair flanked by two large, oafish teens. Naruto recognized the blonde as Draco Malfoy, whose father was on Voldemort's side, and the other two as Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle, whom Draco utilized as bodyguards, despite the fact that their brains were the size of a pea.

"Typical of you, Potter. Always hanging out with the wrong types. Mudbloods, blood traitors, half-breeds, and foreigners, now, too, eh?" the boy sneered, daring one of the accused in the compartment to retaliate. "Weasley, you must feel right at home in here; cramped in a small place with 10 people. I imagine it's not much of a change from the Burrow."

Ron gave off a strangled growl, restrained by Harry, who was giving Malfoy a look of utter loathing. "Go on, Malfoy, don't be mad. How's your Death Eater father doing?" Harry replied, his voice layered with dislike.

"Father's a big hit at the Ministry, unlike **some** people. I think you might want to reconsider who's on the right side, Potter," Malfoy replied, his sneer turning into a spiteful glare. Harry was about to speak, but, to his surprise, Naruto answered, his fists clenched in anger. 'What's he so mad about?' he wondered.

"You know, **some** people know that the Ministry's about as phony as your father probably is. And as for traitors, looked in a mirror lately?" the other blonde spat viciously. Naruto knew that the half-breed comment had been directed at Danny. Dumbledore had sent them an owl saying to expect a few of the students whose fathers were Death Eaters to know about the half-ghost, as Vlad was very interested in him. He also didn't appreciate the Mudblood comment; it reminded him too much of the superiority complexes of the Uchiha and Hyuuga clans, which annoyed him to no end. He glanced at Danny, whose eyes had flashed green briefly at Draco's words. So he'd noticed, too.

Malfoy looked shocked at the attack from the foreigner; he'd expected to rile up Harry, and maybe drop some hints to annoy the ghost kid, despite the fact he'd been ordered to leave the latter alone. They wanted the boy to get a false sense of security at the school, according to his dad. The other exchange students, however, looked angrier than Harry, almost, and the blonde appeared to be prepared to leap at him. He swore he saw the kid's eyes glint red. Deciding to quit while he was ahead, he took his leave.

"Well, I thought I looked pretty good the last time I saw myself. Excuse me, I have **Prefect** duties. Better watch it, Potter, I'll be **dogging** your steps, now." With feigned politeness, Draco gave a demeaning little bow and left, his goons following at his heels.

"Wow, those two are like his dogs or something," said Naruto, suddenly cheery, "Do you think they'll come over if I whistle?" Harry had to laugh, as did the rest of the car. It was incredible that this kid could be seething mad one minute and then totally carefree the next, but he appreciated it, all the same. The girls had been stewing silently the entire time, as Ron had been fighting to get in a punch at Harry, but they too relaxed and laughed along with Naruto. Even Sai, who'd been impossible to read the whole time, seemed to be more at ease. They each had one thought in their heads: 'Well, this should be an interesting year...'

Before they knew it, it was time to change into their robes and exit the train. Hermione and Ron had hurried out to take care of herding the first years, another of their duties as Prefects, and left Crookshanks and Pig with Harry. The five exchange students had disappeared as soon as the train stopped, leaving him with Neville, Luna, and Ginny. Luna offered to take Pig, whom he handed over thankfully. Two owls were not easy to deal with. Ginny gathered up Crookshanks, and they headed off the train towards the carriages.

To Harry's surprise, leading the carriages were large, black, skeletal horse with a black, leathery wing attached at each shoulder. They were frighteningly death-like, and he shuddered. Hearing Ron and Hermione catch up to them, he asked, "What **are** those things?"

The two Prefects looked at him, questioningly. "**What** things?" asked Ron. "There's nothing there, mate."

Harry stared at him, "You mean you don't see them? They're right in front of us, leading the carriages!" To his chagrin, none of his friends saw them, save Luna, who spoke up dreamily.

"Don't worry, Harry, I can see them just fine. You're just as sane as I am!" she remarked, passing off Pig to Ron and heading towards her own carriage. Harry boarded their own with dread. 'What if I'm losing my mind?' he wondered, worriedly.

* * *

Meanwhile, the shinobi and Danny boarded their own carriage, being the first ones to leave the train. They wanted to get there as soon as possible; their excitement was beginning to be unbearable. Finally they'd be done with cramped rooms and trains and taxis and ready to explore this new school. As the carraige approached, they gasped at the sheer size of the Hogwarts Castle. It was huge! As the carraige stopped, Naruto patted one of the strange black horses on the head as they left. The horses were strange, but they figured that it was just another part of the unusual happenings that seemed to accompany being a wizard.

As they approached the building, the shinobi felt ancient chakra, no, _magic_, emanating from it, as if the building itself were alive. Danny simply felt his skin prickle with anticipation, taking in the sight of the immense structure before him. Suddenly a voice snapped them out of their reverie and into attention.

"Sakura, Naruto, Sai, Danny, and Hinata, come with me!" They turned to see a tall, old lady with green robes and a green pointed hat calling them sharply. They followed her to the great wooden doors marking the entranceway, gasping as they opened to reveal the interior.

They had finally arrived.

* * *

Chapter 6 should come out Monday or Tuesday, barring the forces of evil intervening. I hate it when they do that. SORTING! Yay.

Please **review** and let me know how it is! Show me some love! Or hate, whichever you prefer. :D


	6. Chapter 6: The Sorting

Well, it's finally here! The sorting! Although technically it's Wednesday, since it's after midnight, I hope you can forgive me. If not, then I'm sorry?

On to my faithful two reviewers, without whom I'd be lost and without a cause:

To **I-don't-like-pennames**, your reviews are never repetitive! In fact, I quite enjoy them! As for the forces of evil, they generally pertain to my boss at work, my father finding random house work for me to do, and yes, my own laziness/forgetfulness/idiocy. Take your pick…this time it was the latter of the three. …hehe…oops…

To **Vampires.Blood.Bank**, I hope this chapter lives up to your expectations! I worked on it for a while, but whenever I add dialogue, I get nervous. Thanks for the love! I always could use more of that. ;-D I love your reviews, too!

Now, without further ado, here's Chapter 6. Enjoy, review, and don't kill me if you disagree! Haha.

xoxo,

Nicky

**PS—I don't own HP, Naruto, or DP. **If I did, I wouldn't be waiting not-so-patiently for late Thursday nights when the next Naruto manga comes out. And I wouldn't put a week hiatus in the middle of the anime at random intervals!

"_Japanese speaking"_, of which there is none.

"English speaking", of which there is too much.

'thinking', of which I do too little. Oh, and the sorting hat thinks, too. Prolly more than me…

* * *

**Chapter Six:**

**The Sorting**

Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Neville walked into the Great Hall together noticing that not much had changed since the past year; the ceiling was still enchanted to show the sky above, and the four houses were still arranged in separate tables, their respective colors being displayed proudly above them. As they walked over to the red and gold Gryffindor table, they looked towards the staff table to see Dumbledore, as usual, seated in the large chair at the center. Searching for the large, familiar presence of Hagrid, Harry saw, instead, Professor Grubbly-Plank, a short-haired, semi-retired substitute who had filled in for the Care of Magical Creatures teacher once before. Harry pointed out the gamekeeper's absence to his companions, and they discussed it as they took their seats between the Gryffindor house ghost and Lavender Brown, who was whispering urgently with her friend Parvati Patil and glancing furtively at Harry.

As soon as they sat down, the two girls immediately ceased their conversation, confirming Harry's suspicions that they were discussing him. Looking around, he realized that many eyes were trained on him in suspicion. He decided to ignore them, and turned back to the conversation about the missing Hagrid. None of them could think of what exactly would be important enough to miss the start of term, even if it was secret work for the Order.

Looking back to the staff table in hopes of seeing his large friend walk in, smiling in apology for his tardiness, he instead saw the squat, sour woman that had been at the hearing regarding his expulsion from Hogwarts just a few days before. Gasping, he nudged Ron.

"Look, Ron! It's her! That mean old bag I told you about at my hearing. She's right there!"

"Blimey, Harry, the one that looks like a fat pink toad?" Ron asked, mouth open in surprise, "Bloody hell, she's in the Defense Against the Dark Arts seat!"

Their next comments were interrupted by the entrance of the first years to be sorted. Harry looked up, trying to find the exchange students from the train, but they were out of sight. He noticed that Ron, Hermione, Neville, and even Ginny were doing the same, with an equal lack of success. 'Where are they?' he wondered, worriedly.

* * *

Meanwhile, the five students that were currently the focus of the five Gryffindors had decided to remain out of sight until it was their turn to be announced, in order to observe the situation in the Great Hall without notice. Thus they headed to the very back of the group of nervous first years and stayed slightly concealed in the shadow of the entrance hall, commenting in hushed tones on the beauty of the enchanted ceiling and the splendor of the Hall itself, from the rich, vibrant colors magically floating above the tables to the ornate seat upon which sat the headmaster. Their observations were soon interrupted by an old, talking wizard's hat that erupted in song.

"NA--mmpf," Naruto said, the rest of his words muffled by Sakura's hand over his mouth.

"Shh! That's the sorting hat, baka," she whispered, releasing her hand when Naruto had settled down.

The hat sang about the founders of the various houses in the school, Salazar Slytherin, Godric Gryffindor, Rowena Ravenclaw, and Helga Hufflepuff. It claimed that they had not been able to agree on who to accept into their school, and so they each had a house, taking what they deemed to be the worthy students. The brave and valiant went to Gryffindor and the ambitious and pure-blooded went to Slytherin, while the smart, clever students went to Ravenclaw. The loyal and hard-working went to Hufflepuff. However, the song continued, the hat feared that such divisions among houses would lead to the ultimate downfall of the school, and urged for unity among the students in face of the looming threats ahead. Sakura noticed that many of the students looked confused, even shocked, at the hat's warning, and decided that it was not the typical song that had been heard among the years.

After the song finished, the tall, older lady that had escorted them into the Hall, Professor McGonagall, began announcing the names of the first years in alphabetical order. As she did, each walked up to the hat and placed it on his or her head, where it would sit for a moment before shouting out the name of the house to which the student would be assigned. The shinobi looked at each other nervously, wondering whether the hat could reveal their secrets or read their mind in its brief tenure upon their heads. Danny simply didn't want to put a smelly old hat on his head after it had sat on so many children before him. His grade school had experienced a lice scare once, and it had burned in him a resistance to hat-sharing of any kind.

Once the first years had been sorted, the students, save five Gryffindors, a Ravenclaw, and three Slytherins, looked to their headmaster expectantly, waiting for the signal to begin the feast. When it didn't come, they looked around, trying to find the reason for Dumbledore's hesitation. They found it soon enough, directly from the source.

"This year I am proud to announce a new foreign exchange program of sorts at Hogwarts," he announced, his voice booming through the Hall, "Through which we are lucky enough to have five guests staying with us. Four of them come from a small wizarding community in Japan, while the other has traveled here from the United States. I expect that you will greet them kindly, and respect them as you would any other student." With that last remark he paused, eyes gleaming. He knew that such a treatment that he had just requested was not usually described with the term "respectful." Student relations were complicated, and rarely dignified.

"Let me first introduce the two young ladies that will be staying with us. In their school, the young women are apprenticed to a particular subject at a young age, in order to give them experience in their future career field, while the young men attend general classes in every subject. Therefore, these two students will be assisting the Professor that is working in their respective field of expertise. To begin with, I'd like to introduce Sakura Haruno, who will accompany Madam Pomfrey in the medical wing."

At hearing her name, Sakura and her friends stepped out of the shadows, surprising many of the students seated before them. Harry took this time to get a good view of her as she stepped forward; she looked different in her uniform, as if she was ready to work. She wore the white blouse, gray skirt, and tall white socks that were part of the standard Hogwarts uniform, but did not wear a robe. Instead she wore a light pink apron similar to Madam Pomfrey's, on the bottom of which she had made a white, hollow circle, so that it was faintly visible from afar. Her sleeves were rolled to the elbow, and her top few buttons were undone, making it appear that she had already been at work. Her hair was tied back by a red ribbon, upon which sat a piece of metal, catching the light as she went. A choker with the same white circle was around her neck.

Walking up to the staff table, where a seat had been arranged near the medical witch to whom she'd been 'apprenticed', she heard the students whispering about her appearance, and had to stifle a laugh. Some of them were quite blunt.

"Did you see her hair? It's so cute! I wonder if she's a Metamorphagus..."

"Bloody hell, she's hot!"

"What's with the white circle?"

Once Sakura took her seat, smiling shyly at the crowd in front of her, Dumbledore resumed his introductions.

"Next, it is my pleasure to announce Miss Hinata Hyuuga, who will be assisting in your Care of Magical Creatures classes this year."

Hinata timidly began her walk towards the staff table, where an empty seat had appeared next to Professor Grubbly-Plank. She wore a gray vest over her standard dress blouse and tie, which was a deep purple. She had the same skirt and knee-highs as Sakura, but wore a long, purple, pocketed robe similar to McGonagall's, with no clasp at the chest. A purple ribbon was tight around the nape of her neck, with a metal plate at the front, with some kind of spiral symbol on it. She couldn't help but catch a few muttered words as she passed.

"Look at her white eyes! Do you think she might be blind?"

"Wow, she's gorgeous! Her hair is perfect…I'm jealous."

"She must be nutters to risk working with Hagrid. Good for her he's not here..."

Once Hinata took her seat, blushing furiously and glancing down the table towards Sakura, Dumbledore continued.

"Finally, we have these three young men to be sorted. I'm sure that whichever house they are in will welcome them with open arms. First let's have Mr. Danny Fenton, our American student, start us off."

Danny stepped forward, slouching slightly, both enjoying the attention he was getting and being embarrassed by it. His white dress shirt was untucked, although his tie was tightly fastened. Over this and his gray dress slacks he wore the standard uniform robe, loosely clasped so that it hung open. He heard some of the girls giggling, and sighed ruefully at their reactions. Why couldn't the girls back in Amity Park have acted like this when he was younger? Of course, now that he was famous he had scores of girls interested, but before that he'd been cursed with his reputation as a geek. And Sam would certainly not appreciate hearing about their reaction.

"Oh! Look at his eyes, they're so bright!"

"His hair is just so adorable..."

The whispers died down as he sat on the stool, hesitantly placing the hat on his head, still unsure of its cleanliness. He jumped when it began to talk...inside his mind.

'Hmm, interesting mind you have there. Curious and stubborn, yes, and very emotional. And no, I don't have lice, thank you very much. Now, back to your sorting. Very loyal...you have an innate darkness in your magic, yes, but your bravery is great...that can only mean one thing...'

'Oh, come on, dude, get on with it,' Danny thought, annoyed.

'Impatient, too, eh? Well, then, must be GRYFFINDOR!' The hat had shouted the last part aloud, so that the Gryffindor table erupted in applause, and Danny's robes and tie changed to match the red and gold that were the house colors. Danny wandered over to sit by the new friends he'd made on the train, hesitating when his ghost sense went off, causing a blue mist to escape his mouth, as if he was seeing his breath. He looked to see a ghost sitting near Neville, who was two seats down from Harry, and so sat on the other side of him next to Hermione, being sure to avoid the specter. Harry patted him on the back, happy to have one of the exchange students in his house.

"Very good," Dumbledore's voice rang out across the hall. "Next let's have Sai, a Japanese student, be sorted next."

As he began his walk up to the stool holding the sorting hat, the students didn't know what to say, leaving an awkward silence over the room. His outfit matched Danny's, except his robe was clasped shut, and his tie undone a bit at the top. He had a black band of cloth around his forehead, with the same piece of metal attached that Hinata and Sakura both wore. He gave off a strange vibe, and he was smiling, yet it seemed too inflated to be real. No one knew how to react to him, and so they simply didn't.

Sai sat upon the stool and unceremoniously plopped the hat upon his head, still grinning. He dropped his smile when the hat began to talk to him, leaving an empty expression on his face.

'Let's see...yes...well, then...you have a sharp mind, but you're not Ravenclaw material. You really aren't giving me much to go on, kid. You're cunning, but you don't have the ambition for Slytherin. You could go to Hufflepuff, but somehow, that doesn't match, and yet, the only other option is seemingly your opposite; you aren't the emotional Gryffindor that I typically encounter. Wait, now! I see that there is something here. You seem to be willing to risk anything simply to discover more on what you've termed "bonds" between yourself and your friends. Well, that's enough for me. You're a tough one to sort, you know.'

Throughout this time, Sai was staring blankly at the student body ahead of him, patiently waiting for the hat to shout as it has for Danny, only mildly interested in its appraisal of him. Suddenly the hat stopped droning in his ear, and shouted, "GRYFFINDOR!"

The Gryffindors looked confused, at first, wondering how such a strange kid could possibly be in their house, but Danny led a small amount of applause as Sai took a seat between him and Harry, much to the dismay of the latter. 'Well,' he thought, 'at least he's not a Slytherin...'

The awkward situation was soon alleviated by Dumbledore's interruption. "We have one last student to be sorted before we continue, our Japanese visitor, Mr. Naruto Uzumaki. Come forward, young man."

No sooner than the words had escaped the headmaster's mouth, the blonde had bounded over to the stool, smiling widely. He wore a wrinkled white dress shirt under a gray vest and tightly closed robe; his top buttons were undone and his tie was barely knotted around his neck. He wore black slacks, rather than gray, and had the same cloth headband around his forehead that Sai wore. Harry also caught sight of a red spiral flanked by two pieces of wood mounted on the boy's shoulder. The students began to wonder at his appearance, continuing as the blonde placed the hat on his head in an exaggerated motion, grinning slyly.

"D' you see the marks on his face? Like whiskers..."

"Wow, his hair is so handsome! And look at his eyes..."

"He's soooooo hot. Wonder if he needs a tutor?"

"Well, he could be a bit less of a show-off."

Once the hat was on his head, the whispering ceased, replaced by an expectant silence as the students waited for the hat's announcement.

'Well, then, another fascinating mind, I see,' spoke the hat within the confines of Naruto's mind. At this, he stopped smiling, instead allowing curiosity to cross his features, but not showing any reaction to the hat's words, despite his nervousness at what it might find.

'Hmm, I can see that you're clever, far more than you allow others to know, and persistent. You work harder than any Hufflepuff, and yet you're brave, risking everything for those you deem to be your precious people. Your ambition is great; you wish to be more powerful than any of your peers, and I sense a power greater than any I've ever seen deep within you, yet you are unwilling to wield it. You truly have the characteristics of every house, unlike your last friend, who barely matched with any...and yet, your courage and fierce emotion tells me exactly where to place you, so it shall be GRYFFINDOR!'

After finally hearing the boy's house announced, the students groaned as the Gryffindors let out a great cheer, disappointed that one house had taken every exchange student. For his part, Naruto took an exaggerated bow before arriving at his new table in two bounds, much to the amusement of his housemates. He sat between Ron and Harry, greeting them excitedly.

Once the applause died down, Dumbledore made one last announcement, "Now that we've finally finished with the sorting, let's not delay any longer. Tuck in!" He clapped, and immediately the tables filled with food and drink, beginning the feast. Naruto spotted one dish in particular, and grabbed it excitedly.

"SAKURA-CHAN, LOOK!" he shouted, waving furiously at the pink-haired girl at the staff table, who looked both horrified and furious at the blonde's antics, "THEY HAVE RAMEN!!" Evidently the girl had decided to simply ignore Naruto, rather than reply, as she merely shot him a threatening glare before turning to the an-dango in front of her, one of her favorite dishes. Instead, Danny spoke up.

"Uh, **that's** ramen? I thought you said it was good...?" he asked, eyeing the noodles and meat immersed in a dark broth suspiciously.

"It is! Try some! Itadakimasu!" In his excitement, Naruto reached across Harry, shoving chopsticks-full of ramen towards his American friend, until he finally took a bite. He then turned to Harry, followed by Ron, forcefully convincing each to try his favorite food. Danny and Harry decided it was not as bad as it looked, but Ron immediately reached for a bowl of his own, devouring it.

"Dore rah, Nahtoe. Ets eelly ood!" he remarked, his mouth full of ramen-y goodness.

Hermione scowled at him, "Ron! Swallow, and then talk. Honestly..."

Ron did just that, and then repeated, "I said, you're right, Naruto. It's really good!"

Naruto beamed, "I **told** you guys it's the best!" Suddenly Danny noticed the empty bowls accumulating around his blonde friend.

"Uh, Naruto, I think you should slow down, dude. How many bowls is that?"

"Only six. Don't worry; I'm not full yet." Danny choked on the bit of meat pie that he'd decided to give a try.

"SIX?! Naruto, are you--"

He was interrupted by a pair of red-heads that had just approached, as they sat across from him.

"Bloody hell, that's impressive! I'm Fred, and this is my brother, George."

"Pleased to meet you! Welcome to Hogwarts. You know, if you're interested," George continued.

"We might have a job for you. Great benefits, minimal pain. Your skills could come in handy," finished Fred, winking in response to Hermione's admonishing glare.

Naruto glanced from one boy to the other. "What the hell! Are you clones?"

Ron laughed, "Nah, they're just my git brothers, Fred and George. They're twins."

"Which is even better," added Fred, smiling.

Naruto and Danny laughed, thinking of their clones. They had do disagree; they found clones to be ridiculously awesome.

* * *

The feast was over much too soon for Naruto, who'd only had twelve bowls of ramen, but he was happy that Dumbledore had remembered his favorite dish. The headmaster stood and waved his hand, clearing the table, and then spoke once again to make his final comments before dismissing the students.

"Now that we've finished our feast, I'd like to address a few matters of interest before we leave. First, Professor Grubbly-Plank will be returning this year to teach Care of Magical Creatures until Hagrid is able to take up the class again. Also, Professor Dolores Umbridge will be teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts this year. Please welcome them into Hogwarts with as much respect as their position warrants." Again Dumbledore paused slightly, knowing full well the amount of respect that some of his students gave his teachers, before continuing, "Now, Quidditch tryouts will be--"

"Hem, hem," coughed the short figure of Professor Umbridge, in a not-so-subtle attempt to attract the headmaster's attention. He continued with his monologue.

"--held this upcoming week, as determined by your House--"

"Hem, hem!" she coughed, a bit louder this time. Dumbledore turned toward her, frowning slightly.

"Yes, Professor?"

Umbridge stepped around the table, and began a monologue of her own, as Dumbledore remained standing.

"Thank you, Headmaster, for your kind introduction. As Professor Dumbledore has already told you, I am Professor Dolores Jane Umbridge, and I am here to teach you Defense Against the Dark Arts. I assure you that we will come to be the best of friends this year, without a doubt..."

The toadish woman had short, curly, brown hair and a ridiculous pink sweater over a pink robe. She spoke in a sickeningly sweet voice, and her words were formed as if she were speaking to six-year-olds rather than teenagers, the youngest of which was already eleven. She was saying something about a "ministry approved curriculum" and discouraging "progress for progress's sake," although the majority of the student body had stopped listening after the first few sentences. Naruto began chuckling happily and pointed at Umbridge.

"She looks like a pink Gamatatsu!" he exclaimed finally, in a loud whisper. Danny, who had met the younger brother of the toad Gamakichi, had to agree, and laughed alongside the blonde. The wizards looked confused.

"Who?" Harry asked, finally.

"Oh, it's one of my toad friends, I mean, friend's toad, from back home," Naruto lied easily.

Danny quickly changed the subject, asking, "Do new teachers always make lengthy introductions like this here?" To be honest, the woman reminded him a bit of Spectra, a ghost that fed off of the negative emotions of teenagers, as well as Technus, who was, as Danny liked to say, the master of long-winded introductions.

The wizards laughed, shaking their heads to assure him that it was not the norm at Hogwarts. Suddenly, Sai spoke, for the first time since he'd sat down, startling everyone present, save Naruto, who was used to his weirdness by now.

"Toad-face is more than she appears," he remarked, cryptically. "Right, Hermione?"

It was then that they realized their busy-haired friend had been intently focused on Umbridge the entire time. She turned to them as Umbridge was ending her speech, looking absolutely livid.

"That's right. This is preposterous! Have you been listening to what she's said?" she asked, eyes blazing.

"Not really, 'Mione, but I think you need to settle down. I mean, what could possibly be so horrible?" Ron replied, somewhat bored, not having noticed the frustration of his friend, who was seated a bit of a ways away from him.

"What could be so horrible? Ronald, you are such a dolt sometimes, I swear! She's saying that the Ministry's interfering at Hogwarts. This is awful!" she snapped, although she seemed to finally be settling down. "Now hush, she's nearly finished!"

They listened just in time to hear Umbridge conclude, saying, "And so, I hope that we can grow together and reclaim the rich tradition of wizarding that the Ministry has continuously laid before us." Smiling and returning to her seat, the end of her speech was met with silence, broken by Dumbledore's small applause. Clearing his throat, he made a few last remarks before finally dismissing the restless students to their dorms.

At their dismissal, Hermione and Ron hurried off to herd the first years toward the Gryffindor dorm, leaving Harry and the three new Gryffindors to their own devices. Annoyed at being left behind once again, Harry got up to leave, and found himself being the focus of many whispers and suspicious stares once again. Excusing himself from the rest, he hurried out of the Hall and slipped down a side corridor towards the common room, avoiding the crowd. Danny, Naruto, and Sai moved to follow him, but were stopped by the same ghost that had sat near Neville during the feast. Cursing under his breath, Danny looked at the ghost with uncertainty in his eyes, ready to go ghost if he had to. Naruto looked a bit freaked out by the supernatural entity in front of him, while Sai remained as stoic as always.

"No need to get defensive, children. I was simply wondering if you are indeed **the** Danny Fenton of Amity Park, USA," the ghost stated politely. He wore medieval formal wear, a puffy collar around his neck, and had a goatee. He was unlike many of the ghosts that Danny had encountered; he seemed to be less substantial in form and much friendlier.

"Uh, yes. But I'm kind of trying to keep that on the down-low, ya know?" Danny replied, relaxing his stance somewhat.

"But of course. Allow me to introduce myself, young halfa. My name is Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington, although most students call me Nearly-Headless Nick, for obvious reasons." At this, the ghost literally tipped his head, which was attached to his body only by a thin amount of skin at the back of the neck. Naruto looked horrified, but Danny simply found it amusing, and laughed softly.

"Danny Phantom, nice to meet you," Danny responded, smiling. At least the ghosts here were nice. He was glad that he'd learned how to narrow the range of his ghost sense, though. It seemed that there were quite a few floating around the school, and it would only be a headache if it was constantly going off.

"Well, young Phantom, let me know if you are in need of any assistance. And watch out for Peeves, although I do believe that you can handle him if he becomes a problem." At this, Nick floated away down the hall. Staring after him, Danny was pulled out of his trance by Naruto.

"Well, **that** was creepy. Let's not meet too many more of **those**."

"Naruto, you're friends with me, and I'm a ghost. What's the big deal?"

Naruto looked at him, confused, and then replied, simply, "**You** aren't creepy!" Danny had to agree with that.

The three new students finally caught up with Harry outside the portrait of a very rotund lady, with whom he was having a conversation. Exchanging worried glances, they approached him.

"Uh, Harry? Are you talking to a painting?" Naruto asked, confused.

"Oh, yeah. This is the Fat Lady. The Gryffindor common room is behind the portrait, but I don't know the password."

"Excuse me, who are you calling fat?" the woman in the picture remarked, deeply offended. The boys ignored her.

"Oh! Sweet, we found it!" the blonde exclaimed, just as Neville walked up.

"Have you forgotten the password? I know it! I can't possibly forget; it's _Mimbulus Mimbletonia_," he stated, proudly.

At hearing the password, the portrait swung open to reveal the common room. Danny and Naruto gasped, while Sai raised an eyebrow a fraction of an inch, shocked at the luxurious interior.

"This is nothing like my apartment at home!" Naruto exclaimed, looking around. Red, plush couches were grouped around a glowing hearth; mahogany tables and shelves provided quiet spaces to study, and deep red tapestries hung on the stone walls, giving the room a warm, comfortable feel.

"Yeah, it's pretty nice. You have your own apartment?" Harry replied, curious at the boy's choice of words. Naruto looked at him, confused, and shrugged.

"Well I can't afford a house, so what do you expect?"

At that Harry dropped the conversation, but wondered why he had to worry about money when he was only about fifteen or sixteen years old. Suddenly he yawned, realizing how tired he was. It had been a long day, and he was ready to retire.

"Well, I'm off to bed. Maybe I can show you around tomorrow, but we've got class in the morning, and I'm exhausted."

"Ok! We'll be up soon!" Naruto replied, still full of energy. As Harry ascended the stairs to his dorm room, he wondered how the kid could still be so lively after all that had happened to him this day. He certainly was an unusual guy, although not as weird as his friend, Sai. Danny seemed normal, if not a bit too laid-back, but all in all he liked the new kids. They definitely kept him on his toes. Heading up to his room, he found Neville, Dean Thomas, and Seamus Finnegan already there. Three beds had been moved in with them, most likely for the new students. From the look that Seamus gave him when he entered, he immediately knew that there was going to be a problem. Sure enough, his mother believed Harry to be a liar, and it seemed her son was leaning in that direction as well. Hearing this, Harry's short temper began to rise...

* * *

"So, I'm not tired. Want to train for a bit before bed?" Naruto asked, hopefully. "I've been dying to spar with you, Danny, but I don't think we have time tonight. We can at least get in a couple laps, though. I'm dying to run!"

Danny opened his mouth to refuse, not liking the sound of exercise at this hour, but suddenly the sounds of an argument could be heard from the direction of their living quarters, and he decided that it was not a good time to attempt to enter the room.

"Uh, sure, I guess. Let's get out of here before that fight gets too serious, though. Come on, Sai," Danny replied, changing into his ghost form before grabbing the two shinobi and phasing them through the wall to the grounds outside.

"So, what do you want to do," he asked, "a few laps around the stadium over there?"

"No, I was thinking around the school. Maybe 200?" Naruto replied, looking at the building critically.

Danny laughed, thinking it was a joke. "Oh, ok. That's gonna work," he replied, sarcasm evident in his voice. Unfortunately, Naruto didn't pick up on it, and so he and Sai began their laps, literally running around the building as they clung to the walls by applying chakra to their feet. Danny opened his mouth in surprise before joining them, his ghost powers allowing him to cling to the walls as well. He was stunned by the speed of the shinobi, and decided to fly, as he couldn't keep up with them on foot any longer. Fortunately, he was faster in the air, and soon he led them in a race to 200 laps, winning by inches.

* * *

After the feast, Hinata entered Hagrid's hut, where she'd been permitted to stay for the duration of the school year. Walking inside, she saw a large, slobbery, gray dog and a layer of filth over everything. Sighing, she went to work on cleaning the place, and the dog. She'd never had to scrub anything that thoroughly in her life!

* * *

In the Hospital Wing, Sakura discovered that Madam Pomfrey was very talented, very thorough, and essentially a less attractive, less volatile version of her mentor, Tsunade. She listened attentively as the healer explained to her the exact location of everything she'd need for healing, and the rules associated with it. Sakura nodded politely as the witch went over each item twice, just to be sure Sakura had understood, inwardly thinking, 'Come on, lady! At this rate, I'll be up until dawn!'

Needless to say, none of the exchange students got much sleep that night.

* * *

**Another annoying A/N:**

So, that's it! I hope you aren't disappointed by the houses. I'm not being cheap by just lumping them together; you saw my reasoning, and I stand by it. If the girls had been sorted, I'd have put Sakura in Ravenclaw and Hinata in Hufflepuff. I was sooo tempted to put Sai in Slytherin, but he doesn't fit the bill. Like I said, he's not ambitious enough. So don't hate me!

SO, next up is their first day of class! Get excited! :D I need to do a major rehaul of the next chapter, but it will be out by the week's end, no worries.

As always, read and review, and let me know if I upset you with my housing choices; I might be able to make it up to you! Or not...


	7. Chapter 7: Classes Begin

Chapter Seven:

Chapter 7 is up! Finally! I'm soo sorry for the delay. My computer died, or, the charger died, and I couldn't post for a while. Then I just got lazy. :( It's those damn forces of evil I was telling you about. Please don't eat me.

I love my two faithful reviewers. You make me happy! Sorry I took so long; I feel really bad. Please don't give up on me! Haha.

To **I-don't-like-pen-names**, it was kind of boring. This one might be the same; I'm trying to get them established before I throw too much craziness at them. But, fear not. Things WILL be getting interesting very soon! As for PMs, I have noticed a thing above author profiles that say "message," although I've never tried it. Maybe that way?? Oh, and I'm a girl. Was that what you thought? (it's ok if you didn't…I don't really care.) Lol.

To **Vampires.Blood.Bank**, your reviews always make me smile! I'm glad you appreciate the non-slytherin Sai. He's kind of a weird character. …lol. There will be many more crazy antics coming in future chapters, don't worry!

Ok, so, to recap, I'm late for the story, this chapter is weird, and don't kill me.

xoxo,

Nicky

**PS—I don't own Naruto, Danny Phantom, or Harry Potter**. But I would totally have made it Zutara. I mean, they're perfect together! Aang is too young! Oh, that's Avatar. Sorry. Well, I don't own that either.

"_Japanese speaking"_

"English speaking"

'thinking'

* * *

**Chapter Seven:**

**Classes Begin**

The next morning, Danny awoke to his ecto-powered alarm clock just in time to see one of his new roommates storm out of the room. Rubbing his eyes and sitting up, he realized it was Seamus, the kid that had been arguing with Harry the night before. Seamus was followed by Dean Thomas, who was muttering an apology to Harry as he rushed out after his friend. Harry looked pretty angry, but Ron seemed to have the situation under control, so Danny turned to see what his two fellow exchange students were up to.

Looking around the circular room as he put on his uniform, he saw Sai sitting at the end of his bed, dressed and reading one of his "Friendship for Dummies" books. Danny caught his eye and waved; Sai just looked up, smiled in his strange way, and went back to reading. Naruto, whose bed was in between his and Sai's, still had his curtains drawn. Listening closer, he could hear a steady snore drifting through the red velvet canopy.

"Aw, man! That idiot's still asleep!" Danny announced, surprised that he'd spoken aloud. Apparently, so were Harry and Ron, as they both jumped and looked at him.

"Bloody hell, mate, you scared me! When did you get in last night?" Ron asked, clearly startled. Harry seemed to have forgotten his row with Seamus, as he was now eyeing Danny questioningly, evidently wondering the same thing.

"Oh, I don't know, I guess two o'clock? We were...uh...touring the castle," Danny replied, glancing at Sai, who simply ignored him.

"Wow, and you didn't get caught? How'd you manage that?" Harry asked, interested.

"Naruto and I have a lot of practice from our old school," answered Sai, to the other three boys' surprise. They assumed he wasn't even listening.

"Yeah, and I just stuck with them. Naruto especially is good at sneaking around. He has to be; he's pulled a few good pranks in the past, from what I've heard," Danny added, recalling the orange tables at the Leaky Cauldron.

"Speaking of Naruto, where is he?" Ron asked, looking around.

Danny slapped his forehead in frustration. "Oh, duh. He's still asleep. I'll get him up." Danny proceeded to walk over to Naruto's bed, where he threw open the curtains around it and tipped the mattress, causing the blonde to fall out onto the ground in a heap, a habit he'd picked up from Sakura. Harry and Ron winced, but chose not to say anything, lest they receive the same rude awakening one day.

"_Sakura-chaaaaaaaaaan, five more minutes,_" he grumbled, before waking up to see Danny standing over him. "Oh, it's you, Danny. What the hell?!"

"Naruto, uh, dude, we have like 10 minutes before we have to be in the Great Hall," Danny replied, trying not to laugh at Naruto's grogginess.

At this, Naruto sprang to action, throwing his clothes on in record time and cursing profusely. Harry chuckled at the boy's antics, and Ron joined in, happy that his friend had all but forgotten his fight with Seamus. Both boys were somewhat surprised to see that underneath Naruto's neat, tightly fastened robes, the blonde's shirt, tie, and pants were horrendously wrinkled. It was also painfully obvious that he didn't know how to properly knot a tie, as it was hanging pitifully around his neck in a messy loop. Naruto was finished in record time, and, grabbing his wand, he raced out the door. As he left, he called behind him to the four boys still in the room.

"Come on, guys! We're gonna miss the food!!"

The four followed, Danny shaking his head as Ron and Harry marveled at Naruto's vibrant morning personality. Sai was behind them, an amused grin on his face. As they entered the common room, they found Hermione waiting for them, holding a parchment in her hand and looking thoroughly disgusted.

"Ron, you're brothers are out of control! Now they are posting up help wanted ads to try to con innocent first years into being their test subjects! We've got to put a stop to this! I mean—oh, good morning boys. I didn't see you there," she finished, blushing.

"Here, Hermione, I'll take care of that," offered Naruto. Hermione looked at him gratefully at handed it over. Naruto pretended to throw the parchment in the fire, but pocketed it at the last second. He needed some money, and the Weasley twins seemed to be involved in an interesting venture...

* * *

Once breakfast was over, during which Naruto had alternately devoured the bacon and eggs before him and waved furiously at Sakura and Hinata, who once again sat at the faculty table, Professor McGonagall went around the table passing out class schedules. After Danny explained to Naruto and Sai the concept of a class schedule, they compared them to find that all of the five boys were in class together. Ron groaned at seeing their first day of classes.

"This is the worst Monday possible! We've got History of Magic, double Potions, Divination, AND that Umbridge woman in Defense Against the Dark Arts. D'you reckon Fred and George have got those Skiving Snackboxes working? I could use a Puking Pastille to get out of class right about now..."

Before Hermione could admonish him on the unethical nature of skipping class on the first day of school, the twins themselves came up and sat on either side of their younger brother.

"Oh-ho! What's this I hear? The Prefect wants to skive off class on the first day?" Fred teased. Ron simply shoved the schedule towards him.

"Yeah, well, you would too if you had a day like this!"

Danny interrupted, asking, "Wait, why's it so bad? Potions and Divination sound cool, and History can't be that bad, can it?"

Naruto took the liberty of answering, much to the amusement of his friends, "Because school sucks. That's why."

Hermione looked offended, but the rest of them laughed in agreement. George winked at Naruto, who grinned back. Fred and George were beginning to take a liking to this new Japanese wizard. Filch, the caretaker, shuddered as he chased Peeves the Poltergeist out of the women's restroom on the fourth floor. Even from across the castle he could tell that a troubling new source of mischief was on the horizon.

* * *

As they entered the History of Magic classroom, Danny stopped in the doorway as a familiar blue mist escaped his mouth. Entering a defensive stance, he looked around only to see a ghost phase through the chalkboard at the front of the room and stand at the front of the class. Naruto shoved him forward, as Ron began explaining their unusual instructor.

"Professor Binns is the only ghost that teaches here," he told them, "and he's the dullest professor I've ever had. You'll see what I mean in a minute."

Danny relaxed, shutting down his ghost sense as he slipped into his desk. Soon the monotonous voice of their spectral teacher, combined with the significant lack of sleep he'd received the night before, caused him to fall asleep in his seat, an action which was copied by more than a few of his classmates, although Binns didn't seem to notice. Sai continued to take notes, as did Hermione, given that they were somehow immune to the drowsiness that was plaguing their peers. Naruto realized that he'd already read the material that was being covered, and joined Harry and Ron in a riveting game of hangman. Class could not have ended soon enough.

After shaking Danny awake, the six friends left the classroom, heading into the courtyard to wait until they had to proceed into the dungeons, where Potions class was held. Suddenly they ran into a black-haired Asian girl that was about their age. She walked up to Harry, smiling shyly.

"Hey, Harry, um, who are your friends?" she asked quietly.

Harry turned red and replied quickly, "Oh, um, hi, Cho. Uh, this is Naruto, Sai, and Danny. They're, uh, the exchange students. Guys, this is Cho Chang. She's a Ravenclaw." He mentally kicked himself for sounding like an idiot; why did he always have to act so weird around her?

Cho waved at them, her voice gaining confidence. "Well, welcome to Hogwarts! Um, good holiday, Harry?"

Harry just nodded stupidly, unable to say anything before Ron interrupted, pointing to the Quidditch badge on her robes. "So, have you always supported the Tornadoes, or just because they're winning?" he asked, his tone coming across as rather accusatory.

Cho simply huffed and replied coolly, "I've supported them since I was five. Well, be seeing you, Harry." As she walked off, Harry mouthed a goodbye to her back, as Danny turned to Ron, laughing.

"Ron! You totally shut Harry down! That's not cool. What are the Tornadoes anyway?"

Ron stared at Naruto as if he were an alien, "You don't know the Tornadoes? They're winning the Quidditch league right now! Their team is amazing!"

This time it was Naruto, Danny, and Sai's turn to stare. "What's Quidditch?" they asked, simultaneously. Ron simply gaped in disbelief.

"You've never played? Where did you live? Under a rock? Quidditch..." he responded, launching into a detailed description of the various Quidditch strategy, rules, and teams that lasted until they entered the Potions room. By the time they arrived, Danny and Naruto both were devising ways to steal some school brooms and play. It sounded extremely thrilling, not to mention dangerous enough to be enormously fun.

The three exchange students took their seats towards the back of the classroom at the table in front of Ron, Harry, and Hermione just as Professor Snape walked into the room. Looking down his oversized nose at the fifth-year Gryffindors and Slytherins assembled before him, he began the class by warning the students about the impending O.W.L.s that would come at the end of the year. Naruto assumed they were like a written version of the Chuunin exam, and Danny figured they would be just like the C.A.T. back home, neither of which had provided particularly good memories for either of the two boys. Needless to say, no one in the room was eager for the exam.

"Today you will be attempting to make the Draught of Peace, an exceptionally difficult potion that is sure to come up in your O.W.L.s," explained Professor Snape, "so you would do well to pay attention." Shooting a glare at Naruto, who had begun poking his potion ingredients with his wand, he continued speaking in his bitter, nasal tone, his voice dripping with scorn.

"A strong enough batch of this potion can cause an irreversible sleep; just enough will soothe even the most severe cases of agitation and stress. Be sure to carefully follow the instructions on the board; you will have one hour. Now, begin!"

As the end of the hour drew near, Naruto looked up from haphazardly stirring the brown slop in his cauldron to whisper to Sai, "Sakura would love this! Maybe she could sit in for me. I'm bored." Sai simply nodded, continuing to carefully stir his potion, which was emitting a perfect silvery mist, just like Snape's.

Looking around, Naruto saw that Hermione's potion matched Sai's, while Ron's was shooting out green sparks, Harry's was vomiting up a thick gray smoke, and Danny's was…pink?!

"Danny, how the heck is your potion pink?" he whispered, laughing.

Danny replied with a frown, "Well, yours is brown, dude. It looks like you killed it." Naruto just grinned, his response cut off by the approach of his teacher.

"I don't see what's so funny, Mister…"

"Uzumaki. Naruto Uzumaki!" Naruto provided, still grinning.

"Well, Mister Uzumaki, it would appear that you and your friends have been provided with an insufferably insufficient education in the fine art of potion making. I'd like you to know that I expect you to be able to keep up with your classmates, regardless of your past lessons," Snape sneered.

Danny simply nodded, tight-lipped, but Naruto, in his usual manner, felt the need to reply. "Hey, Snape-san, Sai got it right, see? It's perfect! So it's not all of us." When Sai heard his name, he looked up, smiled his trademark fake grin, and went back to stirring. Snape couldn't help but shudder at the boy's expression.

"Ten points from Gryffindor, Mister Uzumaki, and I would expect you to show me more respect in this classroom. And that is _Professor_ Snape in here, thank you." With that, he muttered "_Evanesco!_" and effectively Vanishing their potion before walking away, not even bothering to comment on the abysmal potions sitting in Harry's cauldron, as he usually would. Harry couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief at escaping Snape's scrutiny. Meanwhile, Danny clamped his hand firmly over Naruto's mouth, preventing him from incurring any further punishment, although his own struggle to control his anger was betrayed when his eyes flashed green momentarily.

The rest of the class passed without incident, as Naruto began devising the perfect revenge to take upon his potions instructor, and was therefore both cheerful and relatively silent, a disturbing combination. After being assigned 12 inches of parchment on the useful properties of moonstones, Naruto's desire for revenge on Snape had solidified, and the students were released for lunch.

Harry felt slightly guilty about the fact that Snape seemed to have moved on to ridiculing the new students instead of him, but he was mostly relieved. He noticed that they didn't seem to care, anyways. Danny was joking that it was a relief that his pink potion had been Vanished, since it was so hideous, and Naruto was voicing his regret that he hadn't been able to steal some for blackmailing purposes before it disappeared.

Harry realized that his mood seemed to improve whenever he was around the new students. Danny was so laid back, that it was hard to be uptight around him, yet he had a strange air of anticipation that made you expect something exciting to occur at any moment. Sai, despite his strangeness, distracted him from the uncomfortable encounters he'd had with the rest of the students with his awkward comments and odd expressions.

As for Naruto, Harry suspected there was more to him than just a happy-go-lucky prankster. He had the ability to relieve the tension in a room almost instantaneously, and he always seemed to be smiling, so much that it was infectious. However, Harry had witnessed Naruto's ferocious temper on the train, and it seemed that the blonde was hiding something behind his unassuming exterior; nobody could be that happy all the time. He should know. Whatever the case, Harry was warming up to these three faster than he thought possible, especially given his state of mind since Voldemort's return.

After lunch, the boys headed up to Divination, which Hermione had refused to take after seeing what a terrible teacher Professor Trelawney had been last year. Instead she opted to take Arithmancy, a subject, she insisted, had some authentic application in the real world. Upon reaching the Divination Tower, they found that the classroom had not changed from the year before. The seats were merely plush cushions arranged two to a table, and upon each table were two musty books titled _The Dream Oracle_. Naruto took a seat and waved to Danny, only to have Sai sit down next to him, to his dismay. Danny simply laughed silently and went to sit next to Neville, while Harry and Ron took seats next to each other.

Danny noticed that two other Gryffindor girls, Parvati Patil and Lavendar Brown, had sat at a table near Naruto, and were currently pointing at him and giggling, both blushing faintly. Naruto seemed to not have noticed, but when he turned around, he gave the two girls a little wave that set them into near hysterics. Luckily they were interrupted by the arrival of a tall woman with large, round glasses and wiry, gray hair. Danny had to smile; the girls here were just like the ones back home. 'Give a guy blonde hair and blue eyes, and he's a chick magnet,' he mused, recalling Dash Baxter, the blonde jock from his high school back home.

"Now, class, I'm glad to see you have returned to another year of attempting to uncover your Inner Eye and learn to See as I do. Of course, I knew that you would return, but that is irrelevant. Now, let us delve into the art of Dream Interpretation, for in our dreams we often See what is not always visible when we are fully conscious. Please open your books, and, see if you cannot interpret one another's recent dreams." As Professor Trelawney spoke, her voice seemed faraway and aloof, as if she wasn't entirely there. Of course, the students knew that she was not a gifted Seer, as she pretended, but rather an absentminded witch who clung to the title that her great grandmother once held proudly. Nevertheless, they turned to their partners and readied to discuss their dreams.

As his classmates were recalling their most recent nightly visions to each other, Sai and Naruto simply turned towards one another, an uncomfortable look on both their faces.

"_I don't dream_," stated Sai, simply, in Japanese. It was much simpler to speak their native tongue when it was just the two of them. Naruto squirmed a little at Sai's lack of dreams. That meant it was his turn...

"_Uh, yeah, well, me neither! So, uh, let's just listen to everyone else's dreams. Maybe they'll tell us something,_" Naruto replied, relieved that he didn't have to share his dreams, either. Lately he'd been having stranger and stranger nightmares, so that he wasn't sleeping much at night. He didn't feel the need to share this with Sai, however.

Sai nodded in agreement, and together they listened in on their classmates. Professor Trelawney was busy fawning over Lavendar and Parvati. Right now they were telling their Professor of Parvati's dream that a handsome, blonde-haired hero had arrived on a shining hippogriff to save her from a high tower, and Trelawney was nodding in approval as Lavendar interpreted it to somehow mean that a ghastly fate would be averted at the last second by her true love, who would then run off with her best friend...Needless to say, Naruto found it immensely dull.

Danny and Neville were equally uninteresting. Neville was in the middle of a long, drawn-out nightmare about being chased by his grandmother's giant hat, while Danny was struggling to stay awake, occasionally mumbling an "uh-huh" or "that's cool." Neville seemed oblivious to his friend's lack of attention.

Harry, on the other hand, was avoiding telling his dreams at all, and Naruto listened in just in time to hear him maneuver Ron into telling his dream about winning the Quidditch World Cup instead. 'So I guess Harry's been having bad dreams, too,' Naruto thought. He could spot an avoidance technique a mile away; after all, he was the master of them.

* * *

The class ended without incident, and soon they had left the tower to head towards Defense Against the Dark Arts. Naruto, unfamiliar with the concept of homework, was complaining about the large amount of schoolwork that they had to do **outside **of school.

"I don't get it! We're in classes for six or seven hours! Isn't that enough? Now I we have to fill up a foot-and-a-half of parchment with an essay about giants because of that ghost teacher, Binns, then write about moonstones for that slimy Snape guy, AND write a dream diary for the owl-lady. If this Umbridge chick gives us homework, I'm gonna explode! At my old school, we just had to practice when we went home. It was actually fun!"

Ron couldn't help but to agree, "Can't argue there, mate. It's bloody ridiculous. And on the first day! But that's amazing that you didn't have to do homework at your old school. I wish Hogwarts was like that."

"Uh, what happens if we don't do our homework?" Danny asked, debating whether he should continue the trend he had started back at Casper High. Of course, he'd had an excuse then...the after-school ghost fights didn't give much time for homework. Not that Mr. Lancer knew about them at the time.

Hermione chose that time to join them, which was most unfortunate for Danny. "Well, then you'll fail, and you'll be unprepared for your O.W.L.s, and you'll most likely get detention! And I refuse to allow that to happen. Of course, I **know** that you'd never do that. You want to show that your school is just as good as ours. Isn't that right?"

Danny just groaned and nodded, thinking, 'Look's like I'm gonna be doing this the hard way...'

Before Hermione's lecture could continue, they arrived at Professor Umbridge's classroom, and entered quietly. The rest of the class was already seated in nervous anticipation, deciding to remain quiet until they determined exactly what this new teacher's personality would be. They had learned in their first years that an angry professor could be scarier than a bull troll on a bad day.

Once every seat was filled, Professor Umbridge rose from her place at the lace-covered desk at the front of the room and smiled, addressing the class.

"Good afternoon, children," she spoke, cheerfully, and then paused, as if expecting an answer. She was met with a few half-hearted replies, and scowled. "Now, now, that wasn't very enthusiastic, children. Let us try that again. Good afternoon, class." This time she was met with a bland "Good afternoon" in return, and, satisfied, turned to the board, speaking again as she allowed her wand to trace her name upon the slate.

"My name is Professor Dolores Umbridge, and I will be teaching your Defense Against the Dark Arts class this year. Now, books out, and wands away!"

This last remark was met with a collective groan. No class that required wands to be put away had ever resulted in anything interesting. As she finished speaking, the books that were stacked on her desk flew onto the desks before each student, startling a few seated in the first row. Harry studied his; it read, _Defensive Magical Theory_, by Wilbert Slinkhard. 'Not a promising title,' thought Harry, glumly.

After explaining the course aims, none of which so much as mentioned the practical use of defensive spells, Umbridge instructed the class to spend the rest of the period reading the introductory section of their new text, in which Mr. Slinkhard had used bright, elementary school-level pictures to accompany his writing. Harry read for a few minutes, but soon gave up and looked around at his classmates. Danny, who had been unusually tired all day, had his head laid flat on his book at the table in front of Harry, and Naruto was throwing balled-up bits of parchment at him, apparently aiming for the gap created between Danny's collar and the back of his neck. To Harry's surprise, Naruto had excellent aim. Sai was reading silently, occasionally glancing at Naruto, his expression unreadable.

At his own table, Ron was beginning to nod off, as well, although his head would jerk up from the text every few seconds as he fought to remain awake. And Hermione—looking at her sitting on the other side of Ron, he realized that Hermione was not reading, as he'd expected. Instead, her hand was raised high in the air, her expression serious. It seemed that Umbridge pointedly ignoring her, which only strengthened Hermione's resolve to keep her hand in place. Finally, Umbridge was forced to acknowledge her, now that the rest of the class, with the exception of two exchange students, had turned to look at her silent struggle with their teacher.

"Yes, dear?"

"Professor, I have a question as to the course aims that you have outlined for us. Why do they not mention the use of defensive magic?"

Umbridge's eyes narrowed slightly, and her small mouth was turned down at the corners. "What is your name, Miss...?"

"Granger. Hermione Granger," she replied, her mouth drawn as tight as the Professor's.

Umbridge's expression seemed to lighten, and her mouth curled into a mocking smirk. "Well, Miss Granger, just **when** you think that you would ever **need** to use defensive magic in this classroom?"

The students in the classroom began to shift uncomfortably in their chairs, each wondering the same thing as Hermione. Ron took the initiative, and blurted, "Wait, we're not using magic at all?"

Umbridge gave him a cool glare. "Students will raise their hands in this classroom, Mister…?"

"Ron Weasley."

At this Umbridge smiled, a vicious, cruel smile, which disappeared when she saw that both Hermione and Harry were now raising their hands. She did not notice the paper-throwing and sleeping currently underway at the table in front of them, nor did she see that Sai was intently focused on her, gauging the situation. "Yes, Miss Granger?" she asked, her sugary voice masking her annoyance.

"Isn't the point of this class to practice defensive spells? I mean, it is a **defense** class," she questioned, her tone calm.

Umbridge replied in the same tone of voice, "Unless you are a Ministry-certified authority, Miss Granger, which, I am sure, you are not, then I'm afraid it is not your place to decide the true purpose of this class. As it is, the _real_ experts have set this curriculum so that you can learn defensive theory in a secure environment."

At hearing this, Harry couldn't help but blurt out, "What good is that? I mean, if we're attacked, it won't be in a secure--"

Umbridge cut him off with a sharp "_Hand_, Mr. Potter."

Harry raised his hand, his expression furious. Naruto looked up at the sudden change in tone from the professor, blinked, and continued to throw things at his friend. This time, however, he was listening. Danny was still snoring softly next to him. He heard Dean, one of his roommates, get called upon by the teacher.

"Harry's right. If we are attacked, it's not going to be risk-free. It's going to be dangerous!"

Umbridge bristled, tersely replying, "There will be no students that are attacked in this classroom, Mr. Thomas!"

Naruto snorted at that remark. In the Academy, students were often attacked by teachers and classmates in order to boost reaction time and force the idea of constant vigilance upon them. Then there were always the rivalries that usually ended up resulting in a myriad of minor individual battles. Suddenly he realized that the attention of the class had turned to him. 'Oops,' he thought, scratching the back of his head and smiling goofily, 'I guess I laughed out loud...'

"What is your name, dear?" Umbridge asked him, her voice sickeningly sweet.

"Naruto Uzumaki!" he boasted, figuring he might as well enjoy the attention while he had it.

"Well, Mr. Uzumaki," the Professor replied, "Would you mind sharing with the class what it is that you find so funny?"

"Um, no?" he answered, wincing as he said it. A few students had to cover their laughter.

"Well, then, perhaps you and your sleeping friend—who is that?" she barked suddenly, as if she hadn't seen Danny there at all before this very moment.

Naruto shrugged, "Oh, him? That's Danny. Fenton," he added, figuring she liked using surnames, from the way she had addressed him.

Umbridge smiled, this time a malicious sort of delight visible in her eyes, and Naruto immediately knew that she was aware of Danny's half-blood status. Dumbledore had already informed them of her hatred of half-breeds, and that, as a high-ranking Ministry official, she was likely to know about Danny's dual identities. He **was**, after all, the ultimate half-breed.

"Yes, well, then. Perhaps it is appropriate that you and Mr. Fenton, should he ever awaken, spend a session with me in detention tomorrow night, where we can instruct you in proper classroom behavior," she replied with a satisfied smirk.

"NANI?!" Naruto exclaimed in disbelief. How could he already be in trouble, and he hadn't even **done** anything…yet.

"Also, I expect you to refrain from speaking Japanese in this classroom. I'm not sure what you just blurted out with such blatant insolence, but I will give you the benefit of the doubt and assume your outburst just now was not an insult," she continued, her smirk widening, and her eyes looking away to find another student to torture.

Sai immediately reached over Danny and covered Naruto's mouth before he could reply, marking the second time in one day that he had to be physically restrained from speaking. After Naruto stopped struggling against his hand, he let go, and whispered, "You should probably wake up Danny now." Naruto nodded, and turned to his sleepy friend, rapping him on the back of the head rather forcefully. Danny awoke with a grunt, and, holding his head, glared at Naruto.

"What do you want?"

"Well, besides the fact that you are sleeping through class, we have detention tomorrow. You for snoring too loudly and me for being, well, me," Naruto replied with a smile.

Danny sighed, wondering how Naruto could possibly be **happy** about getting detention. "Well, wouldn't be the first time," he muttered. Naruto laughed, quietly this time, and nodded in agreement before motioning for Danny to be quiet and listen.

By the time Naruto turned away from Danny, he heard Harry's voice rising as he was, at last, allowed to speak, shouting, "Theoretical knowledge isn't going to help us in the real world! We need to know how to defend ourselves in real life!"

Umbridge scowled. "Well, Mr. Potter, this is a classroom, this is not the real world. And, besides, what is it that you think you need to be defended from?"

"Oh, I dunno, maybe, Lord Voldemort? It's not like he's gonna say please before he attacks!" At hearing the Dark Lord's name, the class gasped, and Hermione, Naruto, and Sai cringed, knowing Harry had pushed too far. Danny, on the other hand, was nodding off once again.

Umbridge had a look of mixed triumph and rage. "Detention, Mr. Potter. Now, let me tell you, class, that the return of Lord Voldemort is simply a fabrication created for attention and prolonged in an attempt to frighten you into submission. Needless to say, **it is a lie**."

Harry shouted back before anyone could stop him. "Oh, and if it's a lie, how d'you reckon Cedric Diggory died then? Or is that a lie as well?"

The entire classroom seemed to be holding its breath, but Harry didn't say any more. Naruto decided it was time to diffuse the situation, and what better way to do so than act like an idiot? It was, after all, his specialty.

"Oh, I know about that Voldemort guy! I heard he's back. I'm glad he's not in Japan...I don't think we could handle him!" At hearing Naruto's teasing tone, the class seemed to snap back to reality, and soon students were whispering to each other and pointing in his direction. The situation wasn't helped when Naruto's loud declaration woke up Danny.

"Wait? What about Voldemort?" he asked, rubbing his eyes. The students were giving them incredulous looks, each wondering how it could be that they took the name, and deeds, of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named so lightly. Umbridge, on the other hand, was livid. She began scribbling something furiously on her desk, and produced a pink piece of parchment.

"Fenton, Potter, Uzumaki," she barked, "take this to Professor McGonagall, please. Now." Harry stormed up to her, grabbed the parchment, and left. Danny and Naruto simply stood there, confused, until Sai pushed Danny forward into the blonde's back, at which time they both snapped back to reality and hurried after Harry. As they left, some students swore that they heard Naruto saying, "Well, that's one way to get out of class!"

* * *

Harry was walking so quickly that Danny and Naruto had to run to catch up. When they did, he barely acknowledged them, and they continued walking in silence, until they encountered Peeves, the resident Poltergeist, just outside of McGonagall's office. He dropped an inkwell at Harry's feet, and Harry growled in annoyance.

"Go away, Peeves." Peeves simply laughed wildly and readied to drop the next inkwell, although he was soon interrupted by Danny.

"Peeves, leave. Now," he said, his voice threatening. Peeves looked at him, eyes widening in recognition, before he sped off, venturing a last "Bye, Potty!" just before he phased through the ceiling.

Danny shook his head in exasperation, and Naruto grinned, whispering, "Wow, Danny, I guess your reputation really does precede you." Harry didn't seem to notice, his fists clenched tight as he pounded on the Gryffindor House Head's office door. It opened to reveal a distressed Professor McGonagall.

"Heavens, Harry, what is so important that you nearly destroy my door in an attempt to see me?"

Harry simply shoved the pink parchment towards her. "I was sent to give this to you."

McGonagall narrowed her eyes. "And you two?" she asked, gesturing to Naruto and Danny, who had remained just outside the door, hoping they'd be forgotten.

Naruto answered, scratching his head in his customary sign of discomfort, "Um, same with us...that Umbridge lady got mad at us."

McGonagall's scowl deepened and she gestured for them to enter the room, closing the door behind them. Once she had sat behind the great oak desk in her office and read the note, she spoke. "Have a seat." When none of them sat, she narrowed her eyes and repeated herself, daring them to defy her. None of them did.

"Potter, I understand where you are coming from, but you must understand the situation that we are in. You **must** control your temper! Greater things are at stake here! I'm sure you know who it is that she reports to."

Harry looked up, his anger being replaced by guilt and confusion. "Yeah, I remember Hermione saying she was working for the Ministry..."

"Exactly. At least Miss Granger pays attention. Unfortunately, there is nothing I can do here. It says that you--all of you--have detention for the rest of the week. Yes, Harry, that means you'll have to miss the Quidditch tryouts. I'm sorry, but perhaps next time you will behave more appropriately." McGonagall then turned to Danny and Naruto, studying them closely. "I'm not sure what you did to upset Professor Umbridge so thoroughly, but I would advise you to be careful, as well. Professor Dumbledore is quite adamant that you remain here for the entirety of the year, for reasons I do not understand, but my...colleague has the ability to cut your visit short. So, I think you should exercise the same caution that I have advised for Harry. Danny, you even more so. Now, have a biscuit and get out of my office. I have work to do."

The three boys grabbed the offered biscuits and walked out, each deep in their thoughts. Danny was troubled by what McGonagall had said. He needed to stay here in order to get at Vlad, despite how much he wanted to go home, and, from the looks of it, Umbridge knew of his "special powers." He'd have to be careful to remain under the radar, or his secret might get out. Again. Naruto was trying to figure out a way to get the heat off of Danny and Harry. He figured that he'd take the brunt of Umbridge's loathing in doing so, but it wasn't like he hadn't been there before. Heck, he lived his whole _life_ being hated by his elders. One more wouldn't kill him.

Harry had finally cooled off, and was contemplating what his teacher had said to the two exchange students. From the sounds of it, there was more to their residency here than being part of a foreign exchange program, and whatever it was had been kept a secret, even from McGonagall. He wondered, not for the first time, just who they were. Danny was clumsy, but both were much more muscular and confident than their size warranted, and there were those strange markings on Naruto's face. Not to mention Sai, who was outright peculiar. Or the fact that he'd sworn Danny's eyes flashed green that one time today in Potions. He'd have to discuss it with Hermione later...

* * *

That evening went by quickly, as the boys didn't feel up to starting their homework. Upon re-entering the common room, Kasai leapt into Naruto's arms, creating an unusual scene that was met with a peal of laughter from the Gryffindors seated there. Hermione was waiting for them, a lecture ready to be loosed upon her tempestuous friend. Luckily, Naruto, Sai, and Danny snuck into their room before they could get stuck listening to Hermione, and soon they were alone.

Naruto took out two pieces of parchment, wrote something on them, then rolled them up and handed them to Kasai, who took them into his mouth. He whispered a few things to the fox before it raced out of the room. Naruto turned to his two friends, who were looking at him, questioningly.

"I think we need to have our first meeting tonight," he explained, "We have a lot to discuss."

**

* * *

**

Well, there it is! I hope you liked it! Coming up, detention! And the second day of classes. Plus, Sakura and Hinata show up. Woot. Oh, and i SWEAR it will be up sooner this time.

**Let me know what you think! (aka review…)**


	8. Chapter 8: Detention

Well, here it is. FINALLY. Chapter 8! Yay! So I hated writing this chapter, even though it's been written for like a month, and after tearing my hair out for wayy too long, I finally decided to put it up. It IS necessary, after all. So, don't kill me if you hate it. Because I do. It's not really that bad, but Chapters 9 and 10, well, they are much more exciting. And I got carried away writing them on paper. They still need to be typed, and I am very excited to get to it. Finally the story is getting moving, though. Yes!!

Okay, enough ranting about the evil nature of this chapter. On to my lovely reviewers, whose numbers have increased! Woohoo! Adding my other story actually got more attention directed here, which was exciting. If you are a DP fan, check it out. It's called Phantom Planet: Revelations. (I like colons in titles).

To my ever-faithful reviewer, **I-dont-like-pen-names**, thanks for another awesome review! I discovered that I am pretty good at making my own compliment, and let me tell you, it was a great one. Haha. As for the PM thing, I think that you need to go to your profile settings and allow PMs, because I tried to reply to you and couldn't find the right thingy. FYI. So don't think I was ignoring ya. Haha.

To my other ever-faithful review, **Vampires.Blood.Bank**, better late than never! Especially since this chappy is late-ish. Well, our heroes are up to more mischief in this chapter, and Harry is getting more and more confused by their antics. Hopefully it lives up to your hopes!

Plus, I got new reviewers! **Calovan**, thank you for the awesome reviews! I'll work hard to make sure I don't slack off for you. After this chapter, things will definitely start getting interesting, and some people will start getting suspicious… XD

**Phantomflower**, I think you are right, and in the next chapter (9), you'll get to see at least of glimpse of what you wanted…Although I'm trying to leave you wonderful reviewers as confused as our poor wizards. Haha.

**himena**, you're review made me laugh. More Umbridge torture this chapter! And here's the update, although not so soon…

**QUESTION:**

Do you guys desperately want a Sasuke and/or Itachi appearance? I can think of a good plot with or without them, although I personally hate Sasuke, so if you don't care, then I won't write it. Lol. Phantomflower had a good point, so I thought I'd ask.

--Nicky

ON TO THE STORY!!

"_Japanese"_

"English"

'Thinking'

Oh, and this: **I do not own Naruto, Danny Phantom, or Harry Potter.** If I did, the Sora arc would end, the manga would move more quickly, and Sasuke would stop being a jerkface. Fyi.

* * *

**Chapter Eight:**

**Detention**

Sakura was sitting on the edge of a chair in the hospital wing, exhausted from a long day of curing the absolutely bizarre ailments that the students had come in with. One had melted the bones in his arm; another had been jinxed so that her ears had grown to resemble wings and began flapping in the air. She'd seen plenty of terrible things as a medic-nin, from missing limbs to gaping wounds to horrific poisonings, but she'd never been prepared for anything as ludicrous as the issues plaguing some of these children.

Madame Pomfrey, however, had claimed that, for the first day of school, it had been a rather quiet day, a statement that made Sakura realize how truly different the wizarding and shinobi worlds were. For example, Madame Pomfrey considered melted bones to be an easily remedied affliction, much like the common cold, but when Sakura had told her about some of the wounds she'd healed, the medical witch had been amazed at her skill. It seemed that most magic, while allowing for the strangest, and cruelest, jinxes imaginable, was also reversed just as easily as it was cast, while physical wounds posed a bit more of a challenge.

Once she got past the peculiarity of wizarding medicine, Sakura realized that it would open up an entirely new method of healing if she could manage to combine her medical ninjutsu with magic. Her mind was racing through the possibilities when Kasai, Naruto's little red fox, jumped into her lap, a damp parchment in his mouth.

"Honestly, Kasai, we need to get you a collar for this kind of stuff. This is disgusting," she complained as she unrolled the note. She couldn't help but be a little excited at reading it; she'd missed her friends, even after a day, and couldn't wait to see what they had been up to. Her excitement turned into concern as she read it.

_We need to talk about something regarding Danny and I. Meet at that hut Hinata is staying in at 11:00. Don't be seen; apparently we aren't allowed out in the halls at night. And no, I didn't find that out from experience. Harry told me._

_Naruto_

Sakura grimaced, wondering what in the world Naruto had gotten himself into this time, as Kasai leapt off her lap and raced out the door, probably to give Hinata her message.

* * *

Hinata sighed and patted the head of the large dog that shared Hagrid's little hut with her. Today she'd assisted Professor Grubbly-Plank in teaching some third-years about Crups, which were small, dog-like animals with forked tails. They had made her a bit homesick, as they reminded her a bit of her teammate's canine partner, Akamaru, but at least she was able to care for them quite easily. Suddenly a scratching at the door interrupted her thoughts. Upon opening it, she found Kasai looking up at her, a saliva-drenched parchment in his teeth. She didn't pay it much mind; years of working with Kiba and his dog had made her immune to drool.

When she read the message, she was a little worried. In the Academy, Naruto had always been in trouble, and she felt that this was the case once again. Shoving aside her concern, she hurried to make the hut presentable, and prepared something to serve her guests. Even though this was technically business, she had a feeling this was as much a social meeting as a mission briefing. Unfortunately, however, they were in England, so she could only find a strong black tea and some "biscuits," which, she'd read, was a common snack combination in the region. She only hoped that it was good enough for Naruto...and the rest.

No sooner had the water begun to boil, the clock struck 11:00, and her door opened to reveal a rather irritable Sakura. Before Hinata could properly greet her, Sakura stormed in and collapsed into one of the chairs surrounding the center table. "_Ugh_!_ The pay that Tsunade's getting for this mission better be good, because this is NOT my idea of fun_."

"_A-anou, Sakura-san, I don't think that our missions are meant to be fun, exactly_..." Hinata replied, timidly. Sakura looked up, seemingly surprised that another person was in the room.

"_Oh! Hinata! I'm so sorry; I'm just in a bad mood. The oddness of this place is getting to me, I guess. How a_--"

Sakura's next words were cut off by the violent opening of the door, to reveal the three male members of their group. "Sakura-chan! I've missed you! How is the hospital?"

Naruto's warm greeting was met with a forceful rap on the head by his long-standing crush and teammate. "You baka, you could at least come **visit** me once and a while, then you'd know! Now, what did you do that caused us to have a meeting tonight?"

The abused blonde smiled sheepishly and rubbed his head. "Oh, um, I'll get to that..." Before he could continue that thought, Hinata spoke up.

"A-anou, N-naruto-kun, I made some tea and b-biscuits...in case someone is h-hungry..." Naruto's eyes lit up at the mention of food, regardless of its ethnicity, and he beamed, grabbing the treat eagerly.

"Hinata! You'd make a great wife, I swear! This is so nice!" Hinata, at hearing Naruto's praise, nearly fainted again, her face turning bright red. He was oblivious, however, to her plight, and continued as if nothing happened.

"Ok, well, here's the deal," Naruto began, slowly inching away from Sakura's punching radius, "Harry got himself into trouble today. He has a really bad temper, and apparently this Umbridge woman, you know, the one that looks like a toad, doesn't believe Voldemort returned, along with half of the school. In fact, a lot of people think Harry's just trying to get attention."

"NARUTO! Get on with it!" Sakura shouted. She didn't come here to talk about what they'd already figured out. Naruto nodded, and, maneuvering himself so that Sai was between Sakura and himself, he found it safe to continue.

"Well, long story short, Harry got detention, and we, being Danny and I, stuck up for him, I mean, we couldn't leave him hanging, and so, uh…"

"We got detention also. All week," Danny finished. He neglected to add that they both had detention before that point, or that he was sleeping when all of this went down. Still, Sakura did not look happy, and it looked as if she was about to launch herself at her blonde teammate. Luckily, Hinata interrupted.

"This is g-good, right? S-surely this is a p-perfect opportunity to gain Harry's trust. A-and, well, we **do** need to protect him, still."

Sakura hesitated, and then her look softened. "Yes, you're right. Okay, anything else?"

"Well, I think she knows Danny's secret, and she's out to get Harry, but she doesn't really care about me. I was thinking that I can distract her from torturing those two…I have experience in that area…and I can handle it, as you well know, Sakura." The last part was added when he saw Sakura open her mouth to object. She stopped, looking thoughtful.

"I agree with Naruto. Also, Sakura, I believe that you should begin coming to our Potions classes, somehow, as you'll find it much more interesting than Naruto or Danny. We can discuss that later, however." Once Sai finished speaking, his four companions stared at him before nodding in agreement. They really had forgotten that he was there, since he'd been silent for so long.

Finally, Naruto interrupted the awkward silence that followed. "Well, okay. We need to get back before we are missed, and, besides, I don't think Danny should sleep through any more classes. He's turning into Shikamaru, except not as smart…"

"Who?" Danny asked, confused.

Naruto thought for a minute before replying, "Sometime during the weekend. Once this hell week is over, we can start training again! I'll send Kasai."

With that, the three guys bid the girls farewell, and Danny transformed into his ghostly alter-ego before flying them back to their common room. Sakura and Hinata, however, chose to stay behind for a while, deciding to catch up on the latest school gossip.

Danny, Sai, and Naruto arrived back to their common room unnoticed, but Harry heard them enter their beds at such a late hour, and, not for the first time, was a little suspicious. What were those three up to?

* * *

The next morning unfolded much like the one before it; Danny tossed a late-sleeping Naruto out of bed, and the fifth-year roommates, minus Dean and Seamus, found Hermione waiting in the common room to head down to breakfast together, where she and Ron got into a fight about some strange creatures called "house-elves" that apparently acted as servants in the castle. After that, the boys were afraid to talk, for fear that she'd go off at them, instead. Naruto quickly gathered that she had a temper to rival Sakura's, although she was far less violent.

After breakfast, they headed towards their first class of the day, which happened to be double Charms with Professor Flitwick, an extremely short, ancient wizard with a bushy, white beard. Professor Flitwick spent the first twenty minutes of class discussing the seriousness of the impending O.W.L exams, a discussion that every student had already heard at least three times before. Finally they were told to review summoning charms for the rest of the class, which Naruto was extremely excited about, as he'd already mastered toad summons. Unfortunately, the summoning charm ended up being used to retrieve objects from somewhere, not to summon animals, and so he'd have to learn it the hard way.

After they watched Harry successfully summon three pillows in a row with by saying "_Accio Cushion_" and giving his wand a twist, Naruto, Danny, and Sai decided to try it for themselves. Surprisingly, it was Naruto who got it first. A cushion flew towards him, but he'd put too much into the spell, and causing it to plow into his chest, knocking him out of his chair, and causing the rest of the class to break out in laughter.

"Hey, those things are harder than they look," Naruto muttered, before turning to his friends. "Sai, it's kind of like the summoning jutsu, at least in how your chakra flows; you just channel it into the wand, and focus on the object. Kind of like when you summon your pictures." Sai nodded, followed Naruto's advice, and finally succeeded on his next try, although the charm was performed with much more control than Naruto's. The blonde then turned to Danny, and coached him through it, until, by the end of class, all three were successfully getting the cushions at the front of the room to zoom into their waiting arms.

Feeling very proud of themselves for excelling at their first purely magical attempt, the three exchange students headed towards double Transfiguration along with Harry, Ron, and Hermione, where they received yet another lesson on O.W.L.s from Professor McGonagall.

They soon found that Transfiguration was not as easy as the Charms review had been when they were set to Vanishing snails, which proved utterly impossible for all but Hermione, who had managed to make her snail completely disappear with a sharp "_Evanesco_" and a quick flourish of her wand.

Naruto, who had given up on his Vanishing efforts after about 10 unsuccessful attempts, decided to make use of his recently learned summoning charm and have a little fun with his new friends. Just as "_Evanesco_" escaped Harry's lips, Naruto whispered "_Accio Snail_," sending Harry's snail flying towards him, and giving Harry the illusion of having successfully Vanished it. His joy was short-lived, however, when he felt a slimy creature hit the back of his neck, and he turned around to see Naruto laughing. After pulling the _thing_ off of his neck, he realized that it was his snail, and realized what had happened. He glared at Naruto, annoyed that he'd fallen for the prank, but Ron was laughing hysterically. That is, until Naruto got him with the same trick only fifteen minutes later. Then it was Harry's turn to laugh.

* * *

Lunch came and went without incident, except for a short lecture from Hermione on the irresponsibility of using magic for pranks, citing the Weasley twins as prime examples. Naruto didn't really think that being like those two was bad, but he felt it wise not to bring that up in front of Hermione. Now the six Gryffindor friends were standing in the field near Hagrid's hut along with the rest of the Slytherin and Gryffindor fifth-years, waiting for their Care of Magical Creatures teacher. Soon the woman from the banquet approached, followed by Hinata.

"Everyone here? Good," began the teacher, looking around at her students. "As you may know, I am Professor Grubbly-Plank, and this is Hinata Hyuuga, my teaching assistant for the year. You can call her Hinata, though, since she's just a student, like yourselves. However, you should know that I've allowed her the privilege of granting detention, so leave her alone."

Malfoy and his cronies snorted in amusement, while Danny and Naruto were waving at Hinata, the latter much more enthusiastically. In return, Hinata blushed and gave a small wave back, looking at her feet. The teacher ignored them all, and continued. "Now, Hinata, could you please explain to the class what we will be learning today?"

Hinata blushed and nodded quietly, mortified at being put in the spotlight when Naruto was standing right in front of her. She decided to look at her teacher instead, and found it a little easier to gather the courage to speak. "Th-these are B-bowtruckles, and they g-guard the trees whose limbs are used f-for wands," she explained, her voice gaining strength as she spoke. "They eat w-wood lice and, if they c-can get them, fairy eggs."

"Thank you, Hinata," replied Professor Grubbly-Plank. "Now, get into groups of three, grab a Bowtruckle, and make a full sketch of their body structure, due at the start of our next class. Grab some wood lice to keep them happy, also." With that, she stepped back from the table, signaling the students to begin.

Naruto surged to the front, shouting, "I call Sai!" and dragging the claimed boy behind him. As nobody else had even made an attempt to be Sai's partner, Danny found this to be a bit excessive, but he let it go and joined Naruto and Sai by a tree after they had picked out one of the tiny creatures, which resembled a cross between a twig and a pixie.

After Sai drew the Bowtruckle three times, varying it a little each time, so that each could turn in a copy, he, Naruto, and Danny went up to Hinata, who had been assisting Neville with his Bowtruckle. Before they could say hello, Harry gave a yelp, and they turned in time to see a Bowtruckle sprinting off into the Forbidden Forest. Malfoy was standing in front of Harry, obviously harassing him. Naruto made a move to run after the twig-fairy, but Sai held him back, whispering that the class was nearly over, so it didn't matter, anyways.

Just as soon as Sai spoke, the bell rang to signal the end of class. Naruto, Danny, and Sai said a quick goodbye Hinata, and then ran to catch up with Harry, Ron, and Hermione, who'd already headed off towards Herbology, their last class of the day. They met up just in time to see Ginny Weasley and Luna Lovegood leave the greenhouse. Luna stopped right in front of Harry and suddenly announced, in a very serious tone, "Harry, I'd just like you to know that I believe you when you say that You-Know-Who is back." Her dreamy countenance then suddenly turned cold when she heard Lavendar Brown and Parvati Patil come up behind Harry, snickering at her.

Luckily, Ernie MacMillan, the proud Hufflepuff prefect, had arrived at the same time. "Harry, I think you should know that I also believe you," he said, as if it were a blessing from the pope himself. Harry squirmed uncomfortably, until Naruto broke the awkward chain of reassurances.

"Yeah, yeah, we all know Lord Moldy-fart's alive, now can we **please** go inside? I think I might actually **like** this class!" At this Lavendar and Parvati stopped snickering and began to blush and giggle girlishly, following closely behind Naruto as he dramatically waltzed through the greenhouse doors. The rest of the students laughed and followed them inside, albeit in a less noticeable manner.

* * *

Herbology had gone extremely well, in Naruto's opinion. Professor Sprout, a stout, gray-haired woman with a vivid personality, was a decent teacher, and Naruto found out that these plants were way cooler than he could have imagined. They'd been looking at some Mandrakes, which looked like normal plants except for the fact that their roots resembled small babies, and they actually cried. Naruto thought it would be pretty exciting to have one of **those** on his windowsill. Unfortunately, class had ended all but too soon, and now there was that detention with that stupid toad-woman. Sai had begun calling her "Dumbridge," which Naruto found hilarious. He also thought "Gama-baa-baa" would work, but he didn't voice this aloud, as he had a prank in mind that could put this name to use. Of course, he'd had to use the English equivalent, or else it would be obvious that he was the culprit.

After grabbing a quick dinner, the three detention-bound boys headed to Umbridge's office. Upon reaching the door, they paused, a cold chill of foreboding passing over them. Reluctantly, Naruto pushed the door open, revealing their tormenter sitting at a desk amid endless pictures of frolicking kittens, which covered the walls. Vases of dried flowers rested on every desk, table, and cabinet, which were also covered in lacy white tablecloth. Danny couldn't help but think of how his girlfriend, the black-loving Goth, would react to this office. 'Probably burn it to the ground,' he thought, smiling inwardly. Next to him, Naruto was gagging, and Harry said nothing, although it was clear he found the room to be just as disturbing as they did.

Ignorant of their disgust in the surroundings, Professor Umbridge smiled sweetly at her guests, addressing them in her signature sugary voice. "Good evening, Mr. Potter, Fenton, and, ah, Uh-zoo-make-y? Yes, well, do have a seat." She gestured towards three small, lace-covered tables in front of her desk, each accompanied by a chair, a piece of parchment, and a quill. Naruto opened his mouth to correct her pronunciation of his name, but she preempted it by continuing her directions.

"Now, Mr. Potter, I'd like you to write I must not tell lies. For the other two, I want you to write I must show respect. You two should realize that the Ministry of Magic is the first and most established order of magic in the world, and its opinion is therefore of higher value than that of your fledgling establishments. Now, get to it!"

Danny looked at his quill, and, realizing that there was neither ink nor a time limit, ventured a question. "Excuse me, Professor Umbridge, but how much do you want us to write? And, will you be supplying the ink?"

Umbridge looked down her nose at him and sneered ever so slightly, before recovering into an arrogant grin. "Well, I think we'll just see how long it takes to sink in. And, as for ink, you won't be needing any, as you'll soon find out." At this, she looked down at the papers on her desk, signaling that she'd tolerate no more questions. Danny sighed inaudibly and picked up his quill, ready to write. He looked at Naruto, who was already writing, his brow furrowed in either frustration or concentration, or perhaps both. He looked over to where Harry had just begun to write, and noticed him grimace in pain and glance at his hand.

'Well, that's strange,' thought Danny, as he turned to his own parchment. He soon discovered the source of Harry's discomfort when his own hand sparked with pain, as if someone had cut into it. He looked at it to see the words I must show respect fading from the back of his hand, where they'd been etched into the skin. He then looked to his parchment, where those very words were now written in blood. Horrified at her arcane methods, he wanted to shout out in complaint about the brutality of this punishment, but, looking at the resolute expression on Harry's face, he realized that he had to play her game, especially if he wanted to get out from under her radar.

After what seemed like an hour of feeling the words being etched into the back of his hand only to heal over afterwards, Danny ventured a glance at Umbridge, expecting to see her gloating over them. Instead, she looked absolutely livid, and was scribbling furiously on the papers in front of her, shooting an occasional, vicious glare towards...Naruto? Curious, Danny looked over to his blonde friend, and had to hold in a laugh. Naruto was actually smiling, almost bouncing in his seat, and scribbling his lines onto the parchment over and over again, as quickly as possible. He totally ignored the pain on the back of his hand, and, having caught Danny's eye, began to hum the tune to the Dumpty Humpty song that Danny had played for his shinobi friends back in the Leaky Cauldron.

Soon both Danny and Harry were staring at Naruto, which prompted Professor Umbridge to bark, "Well? What do you two think you're doing? Continue!" They quickly bent over their parchments once again, sneaking peeks over towards Naruto every once in a while. Umbridge, on the other hand, had no idea how to address the situation. It appeared the boy was enjoying the torturous task, so increasing his detention wouldn't help, and he really wasn't doing anything wrong, anyways, although that wouldn't normally stop her. So she simply glared at him, her work forgotten, hoping to frighten him into ceasing his outlandish behavior.

Naruto noticed the toad-woman's discomfort, and silently congratulated himself. Not only had he managed to annoy his teacher without incurring more punishment, but he had successfully directed her anger away from his friends. It was as if she'd forgotten the other two even existed! The stalemate continued for five hours, until, finally, Umbridge cleared her throat and signaled to the other two boys to approach her desk. Naruto followed, although she refused to make eye contact with him.

"Now, let's see how much of an impression we've made today," she directed, motioning for them to show her their hands, which were red and raw from being cut and subsequently healed over. Naruto's hand was actually fine; his rapid healing rate had already taken effect, but, after noticing the state of his two friends, he did a quick Henge jutsu to allow his own hand to match theirs. Umbridge looked at them and shook her head. "Ah, well, it seems as if the message still hasn't quite sunk in, but perhaps tomorrow we'll have more success. Very well, I shall see you then, at the same time tomorrow. Good night, boys."

At that the three teens turned and walked out of the office, not speaking until they were a good distance away. Harry broke the silence first, turning to Naruto. "That was brilliant how peeved Umbridge was! I can't believe you didn't get another detention, though! How did you manage that? And why did you do it?"

Naruto grinned mischievously, replying, "I know, it rocked! That old hag couldn't give me more detention if I showed that I liked it, and so she was stuck!" He intentionally didn't answer the last question, and was spared from having to elaborate by their arrival at the portrait of the fat lady that marked the entrance to their common room.

"Oh, thank Kami," Naruto exclaimed, "We're back! I'm exhausted!" Naruto pumped his fist into the air, causing Harry to notice that it was no longer red, as his own hand was. Before he could remark on it, Naruto had already run up the stairs into their bed room. 'What is going on here?' Harry wondered. He was growing more and more confused by the behavior of the new students, and he had a feeling culture wasn't the only thing that marked them as different.

Lying down to sleep, Harry decided to get to know these new students better. After all, they had gotten detention by sticking up for him; he owed it to them to at least be their friend. Plus, he had a feeling that there was a mystery about them that needed to be solved.

* * *

**Das Ende**. Next time: Harry's having dreams about villainous meetings, and Naruto's got some intense training in mind. Aka, Nicky-chan writes her first fight scene!

Also, I drew some bad pics of our heroes in their Hogwarts garb, if you are interested. Just don't poke fun. Check out my profile for linkage!

At that, review, if you please, and I hope the next one will be out soon! Barring the usual forces of evil interfering. Including the fact that I go back to school for soccer training in 8 days. Ew. But my birthday is in 4!! Yay!! I'm not even having a party tho. Getting old suxxx.


	9. Chapter 9: Dreams and Spars

Okay. Chapter nine. PLEASE don't kill me for taking so long!! And NO, I did NOT abandon this fic. It's just, soccer, school, TWO sprained ankles (yeah, I def sprained the second one now), and a really good friend passing away (RIP, Corey) kind of ruined my mood for typing fan fiction. Sorry, kids. My life sux right now…and I forgot how therapeutic fan fiction writing can be. PLUS, _Brisingr_ came out, and I HAD to read it. It was EPIC. Go read it now!! (after this chapter.)

As always, DP fans check out my other story. AND everyone who reads this, check out the poll on my profile. I have a few ideas for stories after I finish this story, and I really want to know which shows/books/whatever that you, the faithful readers, and I, the not-so-faithful writer, have in common!

Dearest Reviewers, whom I love so much, and yes, I mean love, thanks so much for your reviews/support, and I hope you do not leave me after my horrible lateness. I'm sorry!! I decided to start doing private review responses since I am getting so many! Woot! I usually reply right before I post a new chapter, so don't think I'm ignoring you if I take a while to reply. I'm just lazy. XD

SO, thanks to: **himena**, **Vampires.Blood.Bank** (you rock…thanks again!), **I-dont-like-pen-names** (you rock too! You are a much better reviewer than I am. Haha.), **Calovan**, **blueyblonde**, **Lana-shino**, **Neoninja2**, **iceblueangelfang**, **doopidu** (sorry!! Haha), **Mistypool**, **Bakagirl101**, **darthgamer**, **VampyreSakura27**, and **flowercutegirl** (thanks so much!! I'm sorry it's so late!!)**. **I love you all. And, you make me happy. I guess you know that you took too long with so many ppl reviewing begging for updates. I'm sooo sorry. :(

**Per the Itachi appearance:**

SO, I hate Sasuke, and, uhh, I really want this to be able to be somewhat of a filler story, and not affect the main plot (hello, sequel?) of Naruto, so Sasuke isn't coming. Unless you beg and beg and make me feel like a horrible person. (please don't). But, Itachi? Yeah, he might be hanging out. If you are nice. Haha.

**Per pairings:**

Um, I am keeping this as canon as possible, aka, Naruto characters prolly won't have more pairings beyond the typical Kishimoto flirting stuff. There were mentions of SaiHina and even HarryHina (that girl gets around!), and, well, all I'll say is that subliminal crack pairings have a place to shine in this fic, if you look closely. Because, well, Kishi gives us so much material for them anyways. So, I will simply have fun with it, but don't expect anything epic or noticeable. (Epic is my new fave word).

**Warning:**

This chapter is RIDICULOUS (and epic) in its amount of significant and new things, in my unprofessional and extremely biased opinion. You've been warned.

Nicky

"_Japanese"_

"English"

'Thinking'

In case you have any doubts: **I do not own Naruto, Danny Phantom, or Harry Potter.** But I do own this statement: OMGZ on the latest chapters of Naruto!! I'm freaking out every time I read it, it's so epic! (lots of epic things in literature lately….including this chapter!! XD )

* * *

**Chapter Nine:**

**Dreams and Spars**

The next morning, Danny, Ron, and Harry awoke to find that Naruto's bed was empty, which was immediate cause for alarm, given the blonde's obvious penchant for sleeping in. After quickly changing, they headed into the common room, each wondering where in the world their friend could have gone so early in the morning. They found their answer soon after, when they saw a blonde head at a seat near the fire. Naruto was absently stroking his pet fox while he stared into the flames, his lips curled in a slight frown. Disturbed by his uncharacteristic behavior, they were contemplating whether to call out to him when he suddenly leapt out of his chair, grinning as if nothing was amiss.

"Hey guys! I was just thinking, you know, since we didn't really get much homework done, maybe we should work on it now and skip breakfast," Naruto announced, before murmuring an apology to Kasai, who had been unceremoniously dumped from his lap.

The three boys looked at each other and shrugged, writing off Naruto's unusual behavior as just one of many quirks they'd already attributed to the boy. Then, suddenly, they realized the truth behind Naruto's words, and collectively groaned.

"Oh man, he's right, dude," Danny replied, "This probably isn't a good way to start off the school year."

"Bloody hell…alright, might as well get started," Ron added. Noticing the questioning stares from his friends, he quickly added, "Well, you know, I turned in early last night; stress from classes and all, so I didn't get much done."

Naruto welcomed the change of subject with a sigh of relief. Last night he'd had a nightmare, something about the Dumbridge lady leading a small army of students against him on a campaign to "destroy the demon." He really needed to get away from that lady; it was bad enough to see her during classes; he didn't want to have to deal with her in his dreams, too. Not his idea of a good night's sleep.

The minute that they had added the finishing touches to their dream diaries (in which only Ron had written his real dreams), Sai popped up, seemingly out of nowhere. Naruto, of course, had detected him in the corner long ago, but the others were slightly more oblivious to the stealth of the shinobi.

"Hello Harry-kun, Ron-kun. I have finished your bowtruckle pictures for you. I know that you wouldn't have time yourselves, and I was, ah, bored, without Danny and Naruto around to speak with," he said, his tone, as usual, lacking any conviction.

Harry and Ron stared, both equally shocked by Sai's kindness. Ron couldn't help but wonder when Sai actually _spoke_ to Naruto and Danny; it seemed like he usually just stood there and listened, kind of like a freaky rock. Harry, on the other hand, sensed something more significant in the reason for Sai's assistance other than boredom. He had a feeling it came from the same incentive behind Naruto's actions during detention the night before.

"Um, well, thanks a lot, Sai," Harry answered, a little cautiously. It seemed not only Naruto was surprising him this morning.

"Better not tell 'Mione, though!" Ron added with a chuckle. "She'd have a fit. Lucky she's at breakfast."

Sai simply nodded in acknowledgement, before looking to Naruto and Danny expectantly. The former seemed to get the hint, and stood up, subtly motioning for his friend to do the same.

"Uh, well, since that's over with, we're gonna go see if we can't grab a bagel or something before class," Danny said as he got up, finally understanding that Sai wanted to speak to them alone. "See you in class!"

After they'd left, Ron turned to Harry, looking extremely confused. "I reckon those exchange students are bloody nuts," he blurted out, obviously taken aback by their recent behavior.

Harry had to agree.

* * *

Sai pulled Naruto and Danny aside once they had exited the room, turning his coal-black eyes over each of them, finally resting on Naruto. "What happened last night," he asked, bluntly.

Naruto frowned, before recovering his jovial demeanor and scratching the back of his head in embarrassment. "Oh, nothing, just a stupid dream. I think this wizard food is messing me up. I need some ramen to set me straight."

Sai looked as if he didn't believe it, but dropped the subject, continuing on to what he'd really wanted to say. "I attended your attention last night, in secret, and I think that Naruto succeeded in his effort to draw Dumbridge's attention upon himself. I feel that this woman is a danger to our mission, and should be dispatched, but that would obviously have far-reaching repercussions. I also think that this homework issue must be remedied."

While Danny came to terms with the fact that Sai had just suggested killing one of their teachers, Naruto looked thoughtful for a moment before responding, "No, we can't get rid of her that way, you're right. Danny, keep your head down and stay out of her radar from now on. I think that I'll hide a Kage Bunshin in Hinata's hut tonight in order to get my homework done. Sai, you can make an ink clone, and have it do your work in the common room, since I know you'll want to keep an eye on us again tonight. Can you make a clone, too, Danny?"

"Yeah, I should be able to manage one for at least a few hours, at this point, although I've never tried it for anything other than fighting," Danny replied, still trying to figure out when Naruto had become the leader of the group, and why he still managed to surprise him after two months of living together. That kid was, in a way, more of a mystery than Sai.

Naruto seemed to be happy with Danny's answer, and immediately returned to his usual bumbling self. "So, I guess it's on to Divination with the dreamy owl-lady! Man, I'm never missing breakfast again!" As they headed up to the tower to meet with Ron, Harry, and Neville, all thoughts of the enigma that surrounded Naruto were expelled as they discussed the various calamities that might be predicted to befall them during today's class.

* * *

After interpreting more dreams in Divination, the Gryffindors headed to Transfiguration, where the three boys that had been in detention the night before, along with Ron, performed horrendously. Afterwards they headed to double Herbology, much to Naruto and Neville's delight, followed by Care of Magical Creatures, where Harry noticed something interesting about his teaching instructor. It seemed that the timid Hinata was actually only nervous around Naruto. Around everyone else, she seemed to open up. In fact, when he handed in his bowtruckle picture, she smiled and winked at him, whispering, "So, I see you've made friends with Sai," before taking it from him.

Apparently not only Naruto had secrets; Hinata did as well, although hers was more obvious. It was clear that she was either terrified of her blonde friend, or that she liked him. And, judging from her red-tinted cheeks, the latter was much more likely.

* * *

After their last class, Astronomy, the new friends headed to the Great Hall for dinner. Once there, Hermione turned to Danny, her face showing a hint of jealousy.

"Well, Danny," she asked, "How is it that you knew the answers to every one of Professor Sinistra's questions so quickly? I didn't think that Astronomy was big in America!"

Danny chuckled, obviously embarrassed, before admitting, "Well, I've always been into Astronomy ever since I decided that I wanted to be an astronaut, so I guess that this stuff is easy for me. Don't worry; you're still better at me in pretty much every other subject."

Hermione frowned, before replying, "Isn't that a Muggle profession? I'd have thought that you'd want to be involved in a magical profession, like most wizards."

Danny echoed Hermione's scowl before replying, "Well, my parents are both Muggle-born, so I've been raised in the Muggle world, like you. Being an astronaut was just a dream that didn't go away with finding out that I was a wizard, you know?"

Seemingly satisfied, Hermione relented. Ron, however, had another question. "Er, what's an assss-trow-not?"

Sighing, Hermione immediately went into teaching mode. "Honestly Ron, an astronaut…" Bracing himself for yet another long and drawn-out Granger explanation, Danny had to admit one thing; she did know an awful lot about NASA for a teenaged wizard from Britain.

* * *

The rest of the day passed without incident, compared to the previous two days. Detention was relatively uneventful; Naruto ceased his incessant humming, although he still scribbled his lines at an almost inhuman pace, smiling all the while. This of course, did not escape the notice of Professor Umbridge, who refused to look at him during the entirety of their detention session. At 11pm they were finally released, and immediately fell asleep upon returning to their rooms, cradling their throbbing hands. Even Naruto felt the effects of their detention this time, although significantly less so than his fellow detainees.

* * *

Harry was sitting alone in the middle of a dark room, the only light coming from a few candles lining the walls. He could feel his temper slowly rising, his frustration increasing every minute he was being forced to wait…for what, he could only imagine. Once his patience reached his limit, a tall, thin man in a crisp, black suit strode the room, as if he'd just happened to walk into the room, and happily discovered its occupant.

Unable to contain his anger any longer, Harry heard himself growl, "What do you want, _Masters_." Harry didn't understand why he was reacting so strongly towards this gray-haired man, but the venom in his voice was evidence that they were not simply happy acquaintances.

"Well, Tom," Harry bristled at the use of his Muggle name, "I must say that I do not appreciate your tone, in the least. Although, I suppose that I do owe you an apology for arriving late. In honor of that, I shall skip the pleasantries and move straight on to business. You see, the youngest member of the Malfoy family with whom I am residing has discovered that my young...counterpart is now attending Hogwarts, along with the child that is of such interest to you," replied the strange man. Despite the copious amount of irritation being radiated towards him, "Masters" remained aloof, which only served to fuel Harry's annoyance. At the last piece of information, however, his excitement quickly quenched his anger, and Harry felt his pulse rise in anticipation.

"Phantom is here, in England? Well, that makes our job much simpler," he responded, a small smirk daring to creep across his face.

Masters responded with an arrogant smile of his own, "Yes, it certainly does. I do believe that it is near time for me to pay this so-called school a visit. We can put the first phase of our plan into action much sooner than I'd have thought…"

Harry felt himself slowly being pulled out of the scene, but not before he saw a flash of white, and a strange, blue-tinted face with burning red eyes and vampiric teeth…suddenly he sat straight up, only to find himself in his bed, sheets soaked in sweat. After regaining his senses, he realized that it had only been a dream…one that had felt unbelievably real, almost as if he'd been able to see through Voldemort's eyes. Rubbing his now-throbbing scar, he laid down again, finally falling back into a fitful slumber.

* * *

The next day proved to be just as uneventful as the day before, with the exception of Harry's strange nightmare, which he decided to keep to himself for the time being. Snape remained as haughty and prejudiced as before, although he did seem to have added Danny and Naruto to his list of hated students despite the fact that the two actually performed well in class that day. Needless to say, the professor was unpleasantly surprised when two perfectly concocted potions were laid upon his desk at the end of the class.

Divination was equally boring, being simply a continuation of dream interpretations. And, as usual, only Ron confessed his actual dreams. Even Defense Against the Dark Arts was without incident. The three troublemakers simply read their texts, refusing to look at their professor, and "Dumbridge" responded in a similar manner.

Soon, detention came, and, after two hours of writing, Harry found himself nursing a hand that was bleeding openly, the words "I must not tell lies" now permanently etched into his skin. Danny's hand soon mimicked Harry's, although it took a bit longer for the words to, quite literally, sink in. As for Naruto, the healing magic in his pen, coupled with his own healing powers courtesy of his resident demon, insured that his hand was only an undesirable, raw pink even when Harry's and Danny's were both bleeding freely. Eventually he simply used the _Henge no Jutsu_ in order to simulate a condition similar to that of his friends.

Once Professor Umbridge saw the state of all three boys, she deemed that they had been sufficiently punished for the day, and allowed them to leave. For them, this meant they finally had a few hours to spend on homework. On their return to the common room, the three boys encountered a weary Ron, who confessed that he'd been out each night practicing to try out as Keeper for the Gryffindor team, much to their surprise. Naturally, all four of them slept soundly that night, exhausted by the day's endeavors.

Friday morning proved to be equally as monotonous as the one before. Harry, Naruto, Sai, and Ron all failed to produce a sufficient Vanishing spell in Transfiguration, while Hermione had moved on from Vanishing snails to mice. Danny excelled once again during their Astronomy lecture, and Naruto did the same during Herbology, much to everyone's surprise. Even detention was relatively uneventful, besides the fact that all three boys were continuously stealing glances out the window in an attempt to watch the progress of Quidditch tryouts.

By the time Naruto, Danny, and Harry were done with detention, the tryouts had ended, and they entered their common room to find a party in progress. Harry quickly found Hermione sitting by the fire, warily looking on as Fred and George Weasley juggled mugs of Butterbeer. Once she realized that they weren't about to drop their mugs and spill the beverage all over the common room, Hermione relaxed a bit, and Harry decided to get her attention.

"Hey, Hermione. What's up with the celebration?"

She started, as if she hadn't noticed him, before smiling and pointing to Ron, who was happily chatting with a decidedly bored-looking Neville. "Oh, Ron's made Quidditch Keeper, isn't it wonderful?"

Harry smiled in agreement, overjoyed that his friend was going to be on the team with him. He'd never seen Ron play, but he was certain that, if he made it, he'd had to have looked pretty good. Lost in his thoughts about Ron, he failed to notice Naruto and Danny, who had discreetly dragged Sai away from watching the Fred and George Juggling Extravaganza in order to head back up to their dorms.

Once there, Naruto looked at his two friends with a smile that made Danny more than a little nervous. "Ok, guys," Naruto said, eyes gleaming, "Listen up. We haven't trained, or at least trained the way we should, in TWO MONTHS, and I can't take it any longer. I've just sent Kasai out to Sakura and Hinata, so we've got twenty minutes to get ready and get out to the Forbidden Forest."

Sai nodded, and turned to change into his shinobi clothing, while Danny looked confused. "Um, Naruto," he interjected, "What **kind** of training? And what if we're **seen**?"

Naruto only laughed, and replied, "Oh, we'll be too deep in for people to see us! And, well, I'm thinking that we need to start things off right with a good sparring match! Come on!"

With that, Naruto tied on the last of his shinobi wear, the forehead protector, and leapt out the window, with Sai close behind. Danny groaned aloud before reaching inside for the familiar feeling that was his ghostly alter-ego.

"Goin' Ghost!"

* * *

Sakura's excitement at seeing the note in Kasai's mouth was so great that she didn't even notice the saliva dripping at its edges. She'd see Hinata briefly at lunch, but other than that, she had not seen much of her friends at all since their last meeting. And, to be honest, she especially missed her blonde teammate. Naruto might be a _baka_, but at least he kept life interesting. And, after working with cranky students and strange maladies all day in the Hospital Wing, she missed his wide smile and carefree attitude.

But now, from the looks of it, she'd get to see him—them—soon, if the letter said what she was hoping it would. She tore it open, smiling as she read it.

_Hey guys! Girls? Whatever. I'm bored, so we're training tonight. REAL training, too. I'm thinking a full-out spar…I've been itching for some action, and I really want to see what Danny can do! Meet in the Forbidden Forest NOW. Don't be seen. Look for my chakra signature. --Naruto._

Sakura couldn't help but laugh at Naruto's letter; she reminded herself to hit him later for acting like such a kid. Then, she realized that she needed to get going if she wanted to get to their rendezvous point in time, and quickly changed into her typical shinobi outfit before jumping out the window and into the dark night beyond.

* * *

Hinata was in the kitchen area of her little hut, practicing the spells from a book she'd borrowed at the library, when Kasai rushed into the room. Fang, Hagrid's large and rather slobbery dog, looked up at the little fox lazily before falling back asleep, while Hinata bent down and retrieved the small paper from his mouth, patting him on the head in thanks. Finally, a letter from Naruto-kun! Sure, she'd see him in their classes, but she still missed her friends quite a bit. Hagrid's hut was lonely, even with the company of Fang and her small mouse, Teisei.

After reading the letter, blushing at Naruto's silliness, she hurriedly changed into her usual mission clothing. Saying a quick goodbye to Fang and Teisei, and setting down a bowl of water for Kasai, who looked as if he'd run a marathon, she rushed out the door towards the forest, her heart thumping in anticipation.

* * *

Ironically, all five "exchange students" arrived at the appointed place in the almost the same instant. Of course, Sakura and Hinata were following Naruto and the others, so it made sense that they'd be close behind. Deep within the forest, they were away from any prying wizard's eyes, and the dark night only helped to cover their training efforts.

Once they'd gotten past their initial greetings, Naruto got right down to business, much to Sakura's pleasure and Danny's surprise. "Well, guys," he announced, "I think you know this, but, since we're out of shape and bored out of our minds, I think the best way to get back into the swing of things with training is a good spar!"

His fellow shinobi nodded in approval, but Danny looked confused. "Uh, a spar? With who," he asked, changing back into his human form.

Naruto looked at him as if he'd said the most foolish thing in the world. "Yes, a spar, _baka_," he replied, "and it's with **us**. Who else would we spar against?"

Danny opened his mouth to say more, but Sakura cut him off. "Well, maybe Danny doesn't train like we do, Naruto-baka. Danny, what he means is that we fight each other to get in more realistic training. And, in your case, to see what we all can do. You've never seen our talents, and we have no clue what you can do. Come to think of it, I've never really seen Hinata's skills, either."

"But I don't want to fight you guys," Danny protested. 'I'm a ghost,' he added mentally, 'They can't even touch me!'

Naruto just laughed, along with Sakura. "If you think you'll hurt us that easily, then you've got a lot to learn," he snorted. "Okay, now let's start off with Sakura and Hinata, and Sai can jump in whenever he wants. When that's over, Danny and I will wrap things up. Now, my clones set this place up earlier, so there is some lighting, but, don't worry, nobody can see it from the castle." At that, Naruto leapt into the trees, where four lanterns had been cleverly hidden, and lit each one. They directed their light downwards, so that no light was emitted into the sky above.

Danny still looked concerned, but he decided to keep it to himself this time. As soon as Naruto had finished speaking, Sakura and Hinata walked forward and stood across from each other. The two kunoichi entered a defensive stance, silently calculating the other's movements, while Sai leapt into the tree branches and disappeared.

"Hinata, this should be fun. I've never fought a Hyuuga directly before," Sakura said, her eyes never leaving her opponent.

Hinata replied in kind, her usual apprehensive demeanor gone, "Yes, Sakura-san. I am honored to spar with the student of Tsunade-hime."

At that, an unspoken signal seemed to push the two female shinobi into action. Sakura pulled back her hand, shouting "_Shannaro_!" before driving her fist into the ground, causing the ground to erupt outwards towards Hinata, who expelled chakra from her feet and jumped high into the air, safely landing a few feet away. Then the Hyuuga heiress made a hand sign and shouted, "_Byakugan_!" The veins around her eyes seemed to bulge outwards, and she rushed towards Sakura, who made a few hand signs of her own, causing her hand to become surrounded in an eerie blue glow.

"That's Sakura's _Shōsen_ jutsu; her Mystical Palm Technique," whispered Naruto, explaining the battle to Danny, "It's a medical ninjutsu that makes her attacks more potent. And Hinata's activated the Byakugan, her bloodline limit that you saw in the Leaky Cauldron."

Apparently Hinata had noticed Sakura's jutsu, as she altered her stance to protect her vital organs before she reached the medical ninja. Soon the two were lost in a blur of movement, neither able to reach the other's vital points. At this range, even Sakura's superior strength didn't have much of an effect, as Hinata's movements were too fast to allow her to get in a decent hit. At the same time, dodging Sakura's powerful blasts took away much of Hinata's ability to land a blow of her own.

Suddenly Danny heard a voice shout "_Chōjū Giga_," and four large, black, two dimensional lions burst out of the trees towards the two battling kunoichi. Naruto whispered, quickly, "That's Sai's Super Beasts Imitation Picture jutsu. He wants to get them while they are distracted."

Sure enough, a flurry of metallic objects raced towards each girl in the shadow of the animated lion-drawings. In response, Hinata turned towards them and shouted "_Shugohakke Rokujūyon Shō_!" Her hands began to emit fine blue streams of chakra as she twisted her body at incredible speeds and impossible angles, the chakra streams not only deflecting each metal object, which were revealed to be kunai, but also destroying the lions that Sai had sent after her.

"That's her defensive technique, Protection of the Eight Trigrams, Sixty-four Palms," Naruto explained. "It's a variation of her family's offensive technique, and she invented it. Obviously, she can use it to attack, since it took out Sai's jutsu."

Sakura was not as lucky. While one punch took out both attacking lion-drawings, she didn't manage to perform the substitution jutsu in time, causing one of the kunai thrown towards her to become lodged in her shoulder. Grunting in annoyance, she raced towards the tree from which the kunai had come and decimated it with her fist, only to find that an ink clone had attacked, meaning the real Sai was behind her.

Sai once again scribbled something onto his scroll, folded his hands, and said, "_Chōjū Giga_," sending snakes bursting off the page and towards Sakura, effectively binding her, and, in particular, her hands. Before he could land a finishing blow, however, Hinata came in from his left and announced her jutsu, shouting, "_Hakke Rokujūyon Shō_!"

A glowing, circular platform appeared at Hinata's feet, expanding to be a yin yang surrounded by circular runes that Danny didn't recognize, but assumed to be Japanese writing. The runes and circles expanded until Sai was included in their circumference, and, before he could move, Hinata attacked. Her hands struck him in rapid succession, so quickly that Danny barely saw her move. Each series of blows increased in intensity and amount until she stopped, her hand held at his chest.

"Sai-kun," she announced, "I have closed off each of your _tenketsu_. Do you yield?"

Sai responded by bowing slightly before falling to the ground, where Naruto grabbed him and carried him back to where he and Danny were watching. Seeing Danny's concern, Naruto smiled before saying, "Don't worry, Danny. He'll be fine; he's just had his chakra points closed up. He'll be back to normal in about an hour or so." While Danny was reluctant to be as confident as Naruto, he did notice that the only thing that Sai seemed to be suffering from was exhaustion, and maybe some difficulty of motion.

Danny's musings were interrupted by another cry of "_Shannaro_!" Looking up, he saw that Sakura had used her Mystical Palm Technique to cut through her snake-bonds, and was now descending towards Hinata, her fist coming down towards the surprised Hyuuga. Hinata managed to move away, but Sakura still managed to hit her with a glancing blow that sent her sprawling. Before Hinata could activate her family's jutsu, Sakura descended upon her once again, this time connecting with Hinata's shoulder, sending her flying into a nearby tree.

As both girls gasped for breath, Hinata deactivated her Byakugan and held up her hands in a gesture of peace. "Sakura-san," she began, "my chakra level is near its limit, as I'd imagine yours is, as well. I yield this match, as I cannot go much further, and your healing abilities might be needed." At this last statement, Hinata glanced towards Danny and Naruto, a gesture that, fortunately, was overlooked by the two boys.

Sakura bowed, replying, "Hai, Hinata. Thank you for the spar." Her speech was interrupted by Naruto, who bounded up towards the two of them, excitement radiating from his body.

"Yeah, Hinata-chan, that was amazing! When did you learn the Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms? I remember when Neji used that against me in the Chuunin exams. That's a tough jutsu! And Sakura-chan, you rocked, too."

Hinata blushed, her cheeks turning scarlet, and her stutter returned as her battle confidence left. "A-arigatou, Naruto-kun, Sakura-san," she replied, softly. Sakura simply frowned at Naruto before nodding and walking over to Sai.

After checking him over for any major injuries, Sakura healed her own shoulder and moved on towards Hinata, who declined her assistance, citing her own remedies as being sufficient. With the medical issues taken care of, she turned towards Naruto.

"Well, Naruto-baka, we're fine here. Looks l—." Her sentence was cut off as Naruto leapt into the air, his fist extended towards the sky.

"Yosh! Our turn!"

**

* * *

**

A/N

: Wow. What a jerk. I just left you hanging there! Well, this is 11 pages on word, and that's enough for me. Don't worry; chapter 10 is written, just not typed, and subject to my own laziness/depressed state. The latter of which is leaving, since I scored my first college goal ever, which cheered me up. (Cut me some slack on how long it took to get one; I played defense for the first two years. AND I did it on two sprained ankles! The goal, not playing defense.)

So, you saw some Vlad and Voldy action, and my first fight scene EVER. Let me know what you think. As for why Sai went down so quickly, well, he had no prior knowledge of Hinata's powers. And, well, Sakura is more powerful than Hinata; at least, I think so. So she wins. Kind of.

Read, Review, and …Rest? Haha. The three Rs of fan fiction! XD


	10. Chapter 10: Fighting Friends

…here's chapter ten…heh, heh…

Ok, so I know it's late again, and I could tell you all about it, but I really don't think you need to hear the sad story of my life. 2008 was NOT a good year…so, I've decided 2009 will be wayyy better. My resolution is to update each of my stories AT LEAST once a month. I know that sounds like a long time between, but it beats 4 months, and I know that I can actually achieve _this_ resolution. Even though it's the very last day of the month before I break that resolution.

Also, I have started watching Bleach, and am caught up to the anime, considering beginning the manga. I love IchiRuki…and just plain old Ichigo. Sigh. And I've been reading the Wheel of Time series…and it is AMAZING. Yeah, I should be writing, but instead I'm fantasizing about Ichigo Kurosaki and Rand Al'Thor…with some epic Naruto thrown in. Plus, I've discovered a secret obsession with Zutara, and Zuko's hot angstiness…

On to reviews: I love you. Times a million. Please don't leave me for taking so long!! I really only replied to a couple reviews this time, since it's been so long, but from now one I'm gonna try to reply as they come, so that ppl actually know what I'm talking about in my response. XD HUGE thanks to: **darthgamer**, **CryingTearsOfBlood**, **doopidu**, **Bloxham**, **kittyore9**, **MistyPool**, **Formerly Melodious**, **SumikaAmayaOblivion**, **sesshypuppysbff**, and especially **Calovan**, . Epic amounts of cookies go to **iceblueangelfang**, **Vampires . Blood . Bank**, **Lana-shino**, and, as always, my good friend, **I-dont-like-pen-names**.

Also, on another random note…I wrote a Sasuke-centric one-shot that I can't decide if I like or hate. You all know I hate Sasuke, but the story doesn't make fun of him, it actually makes him less of a jerk. Maybe. And I can't decide if the story is good or bad…and I have well over 100 hits and no reviews. Seriously, if you want to waste a few minutes, tell me if it's bad [or good]. I'll take it down, or leave it up, accordingly. Don't need to be embarrassing myself. XD

Please don't give up on this fic due to late updates…I swear it will be finished!

Much love,

~Nicky

"_Japanese"_

"English"

'Thinking'

Despite the fact that I find this statement totally unnecessary, and I have no clue why I'm saying it, I will anyways: **I do not own Naruto, Danny Phantom, or Harry Potter.** But, seriously, the manga kicks major [expletive] right now!! If you don't read it, you NEED to start. If you do, PM me and we can chat about Naruto's absolute, albeit semi-unrealistic, epicness.

* * *

**Chapter Ten:**

**Fighting Friends**

"Um, Naruto, are you sure about this?"

"Oh yeah, Danny. Don't worry, it's just a spar." Naruto turned to look at his friend, a mischievous glint in his eye. "Or are you _scared_?"

Danny rolled his eyes in reply. "Dude, _I'm_ not the one I'm worried about." And it was true; he'd seen the other three shinobi in action, and, while they were definitely impressive, they were still only human. He was a ghost, at least halfway, and it didn't look like his opponent had any ecto-weapons or other anti-ghost devices. Just how did Naruto expect to win?

Despite Danny's worries, Naruto seemed pretty confident, so Danny buried his doubts and stood to face his friend. Each boy stood at opposite ends of the clearing, which had increased in size after Sakura's fists had decimated a tree or two during the last spar. 'More like friendly death match,' Danny mused, still at a loss over the intensity of the previous battle, and the lack of hesitation on the part of the shinobi to hit each other with all they had. 'Maybe I should be more worried about myself, and focus less on Naruto...'

His thoughts were interrupted by that very shinobi, whose excitement was obvious. "Ok! Let's get going," Naruto shouted, and then immediately five shadow clones appeared, each an identical copy of their creator.

Danny groaned, then, resigned himself to the fact that the match was unavoidable. "Whatever," he replied, "I'm going ghost!" The familiar dual rings of light washed over him, and soon Danny Phantom stood where Fenton had been moments before, bringing confidence to replace his apprehension. "Bring it, Blondie!"

In the blink of an eye, three kunai flew from Naruto's hands, more as a test of Danny's reaction time than to actually cause damage. Danny simply smirked and briefly turned intangible, allowing them to pass through him. "Hey, if you think those little knives are going to hurt me, you'd better stop now, dude!"

Naruto replied with a smug grin of his own. "I don't think so!"

With that, five more kunai flew towards Danny, this time with paper tags attached to the hilt. Danny rolled his eyes at his friend's insistence on using the same attack twice, and responded exactly as he had before, allowing the kunai to become embedded in the tree behind him. Unfortunately for him, as soon as he regained tangibility, the tags at the ends of the kunai exploded, throwing him to the ground. Before he could move to escape the wall of smoke and debris, he felt himself under attack from six Naruto's at once.

Four of the shadow clones that Naruto had made hit Danny from underneath one at a time, shouting a syllable of "Uzumaki" in order as they struck. When finished, Danny found himself dazed and temporarily suspended in the air by the force of their strikes. Soon two more Naruto's met him, driving their feet towards him and shouting "Naruto Rendan!"

Danny panicked as the powerful strike thrust him downward, hurtling towards the hard ground below, until he remembered his powers and managed to turn intangible just before he hit the ground, allowing himself to pass harmlessly through the earth. While Naruto searched for his opponent, Danny re-emerged, invisible, and moved above the blonde, destroying his clones with five precise ectoplasmic rays.

"So, Mr. Ninja," Danny mocked, "I've figured out your tricks. NOW how are you gonna hit me?" Danny had forgotten how much he'd missed the thrill of battle; this spar was rapidly becoming more than just a training exercise, and Naruto had proven to be a tough but fun opponent. Now Danny was eager for more, and, judging from the look on Naruto's face, the shinobi felt the same.

Thinking quickly, Naruto ran through his arsenal of techniques. 'Let's see, taijutsu will only work if I can catch him off guard, and now he'll be more careful after the last attack. My weapons are only good as distractions; they just go right through him. That leaves ninjutsu…and I'll bet chakra-based attacks do at least as much damage as his ectoplasm, if not more…'

His mind made up, Naruto stepped forward and entered a defensive stance, ready for battle. Danny, noticing this, got the feeling that Naruto had more tricks up his sleeve than just clones and that _Rendan_ thing_._ What they might be, though, he had no idea. He'd already seen some of the others' moves at the Leaky Cauldron, but they had always claimed that Naruto's best ones were too dangerous to use indoors, so he still hadn't seen them. Deciding that he'd be better off fighting clones with clones, Danny divided himself into four, and waited for Naruto's next move, confident in his decision.

Naruto simply smiled in response at Danny's choice. Before, he'd been reluctant to use his most effective attack. But, now? Well, he had no qualms about killing a clone…

* * *

Sakura and Hinata held their breath as the battle took on an entirely new dimension; suddenly, both Naruto and Danny were dead set on victory. Sai did not react as openly, but the way that he watched with a trained eye, barely blinking, was proof enough of his interest. They knew that this fight wasn't going to be one to forget any time soon.

* * *

Naruto made the first move. After creating a hundred shadow clones, he surged forward, dividing their numbers amongst Danny's own clones. Danny was temporarily stunned by the sheer number of them, but recovered before Naruto could go on the offensive. Soon he was hurling beams of ectoplasmic energy towards the attacking clones, and was rather dismayed to find that, despite destroying a good amount, they kept coming. 'Apparently Naruto has clones to spare,' he thought with a tinge of jealousy.

Suddenly, some of the Naruto's attacking one of Danny's clones started shouting, and a blue glow emerged from within their midst. The Danny copy turned to face the commotion, and was met with a Naruto clone holding a sphere of swirling blue energy, almost as beautiful as it was deadly. The shadow clone thrust the ball of chakra into clone-Danny's chest, shouting "_Rasengan_!" The stricken clone looked down to see a hole in the middle of its torso, and immediately disappeared.

Shocked, the other Danny's turned to watch their teammate's destruction, allowing Naruto to attempt a second _Rasengan_. Luckily, the clone turned to see the attack coming at the last minute, and moved his arms in front of himself, erecting a glowing green energy shield around his body and effectively blocking the attack.

"_It's like a stationary version of _Kaiten," whispered Hinata, shocked at the effectiveness of Danny's ecto-shield. Her companions nodded in agreement, eager to see what else Danny was hiding.

The Naruto clones attacking the shielded Danny were equally impressed, and they hesitated for a moment. This was all the time that he needed, so he casted his shield away and pushed all of his power into one powerful blast of ectoplasm. Sending it towards his stunned opponents, the Danny clone effectively destroyed their ranks, making the playing field even. Or, at least, more so than before.

The previously victorious Naruto clones rushed to meet the equally successful Danny clone, and the fight continued. Meanwhile, in another small battle, Danny continued to pick off Naruto clones with his ghost rays, only to have another appear in its place. Frustrated, Danny began to grow careless, throwing ecto-blasts in quick succession with little regard for precision. In response, the attacking clones began to throw kunai, one after another, forcing Danny to turn intangible and halt his offensive.

When the last kunai flew by, Danny turned solid once more, preparing to renew his assault upon Naruto's small army. Little did he know that the real Naruto was among this group, and he'd hidden in the ground below using a _doton_ jutsu during his opponent's frenzied assault, awaiting Danny's return to tangibility. As soon as he sensed another of his clones dissipate, he emerged from the earth below the distracted Danny clone, grasping a kunai imbued with his own wind chakra, as Asuma-sensei had taught him only a short time before.

Ignoring the shock that had registered on clone-Danny's face, Naruto threw his chakra-infused weapon into its chest. Immediately the clone disappeared, and once again Naruto had gained the upper hand in the battle. Frustrated, one of the two remaining Danny's suddenly opened his mouth, letting out a terrible wail that echoed through the forest, causing all of the shinobi present to cover their ears in discomfort.

The ghostly wail did more than harm the ears, as they soon found out. With it came a force that leveled more than a few trees, as well as dispelled all of the remaining shadow clones from Naruto's _Kage Bunshin_ jutsu. The move was not without consequence, however; as soon as the wail was stopped, the attacking clone merged into its partner, leaving a single, exhausted Danny Phantom in its place. It did serve its purpose, though; Naruto was likewise now a single entity, and the attack had thrown him back several hundred yards into the shattered remains of a particularly large tree.

Battered, but not beaten, Naruto stepped out of the tree, and immediately formed another hundred shadow clones in front of him. He knew his chakra was running low, but he also knew that Danny's own energy was diminished, and banked on his ability to overwhelm the ghost boy with sheer numbers.

For his part, Danny was slightly discouraged when he saw the new round of Naruto clones that had formed in front of him. He knew that he would be unable to make another clone after that last attack, and was hoping that Naruto would be in the same state. Another thing that worried him was the strength of Naruto's attacks. He knew that his clones could withstand more damage than Naruto's shadow clones, and yet each had been taken out in only one move. Granted, he was certain that executing each of those moves had taken a great deal out of Naruto, but he wasn't sure how much he could handle before Naruto was worn out.

Ready for the next encounter, Naruto mocked Danny, shouting, "Hey, what's wrong? Is the little ghost too tired? Because I can go all day!"

Danny smirked, and suddenly he knew what to do. "Well, then maybe you should just chill out!" With that response, his glowing, green eyes turned to a cold, shining blue, and he sent a beam of ice over the shadow clones before him, freezing them into one large Naruto Popsicle. He noticed that one had escaped his icy spread, and sent another frozen blast towards the original Naruto, only for him to see a log frozen in his place.

"You missed me," Naruto remarked from behind Danny, as the frozen clones disappeared in one huge puff of smoke. Gasping, the ghost-boy turned just in time to avoid a crushing blow from Naruto's fist. He backed into the air, and both ninja and ghost stared at each other, each panting heavily.

The staring contest lasted longer than was comfortable for the three onlookers, who began to fidget slightly from the intensity of their joined gaze. But soon it ended, and the two opponents seemed to have come to a mutual decision. Naruto called up a shadow clone, immediately working to form the familiar swirling ball of chakra, and Danny began to form a unique block of ice and ectoplasm in his fist.

Suddenly both boys rushed forward, Naruto holding the swirling chakra in front of him while shouting, "Oodama Rasengan!" Just before they met, Danny released the ice-covered ball of ectoplasm, and Naruto thrust his extra-large _Rasengan_ into it. For a brief moment, all was still as the two powers battled each other, and then the combination of forces exploded, enveloping the area in an overwhelming display of light and energy.

* * *

When the effects of the explosion receded, the three shinobi onlookers uncovered their eyes, only to see Danny and Naruto lying unconscious at opposite ends of the clearing. Sighing, Sakura went to retrieve Danny, as Sai grabbed Naruto, and, after determining that they had suffered little injury aside from bruising and exhaustion, they headed back to Hagrid's hut.

"_It's a damn good thing the school was asleep, and that we went deep into the forest_," an annoyed Sakura pointed out. "_If not, our secret would have been out in the first week_!"

"_Well,_" observed Sai, "_You weren't exactly quiet when you destroyed those trees_."

Hinata quickly stifled a giggle, and Sakura frowned, unhappy but unable to deny Sai's logic. Unaware of the discomfort his comment caused, he continued, "_Truly, though, it is amazing how powerful they could be if they combine their attacks_._ Apart_,_ surely they are strong_,_ but together_,_ they are truly_ _impressive_."

That thought left the three in silence, which lasted until they reached the small home where Hinata had been staying. There they finally succumbed to the exhaustion of their battles, and soon all five exchange students were asleep in the little hut.

* * *

The next morning, Harry awoke from an uncharacteristically deep slumber to find that all of his friends were still asleep, save for the three exchange students. In fact, it looked as if they hadn't slept in their beds at all. Thinking little of it, given the three boys' obvious affinity for behaving strangely, Harry moved to get out of bed, looking out the window as he did so. What he saw caused him to immediately turn and wake up Ron, his excitement outweighing any reservations about preserving his friend's sleep.

"Ron, Ron! Wake up! It's Hagrid, he's back!" Harry's efforts were met with a particularly loud snore. Undeterred, Harry began shaking his friend, until he was finally successful.

"Ugh, bloody hell, Harry! What's your problem? It's a **Saturday**! I don't have to be awake for at least two more hours," Ron complained, his pillow held over his head in protest.

"I saw the chimney lit over at Hagrid's hut! I think he's back! Come on, you need to get dressed!" Harry was pulling on his pants while he spoke, and, seeing Ron was being particularly slow to awaken, he stopped to pull him out of bed.

After a particularly hard landing, Ron glared at Harry, resigned to the fact that his sleep was not going to be resumed any time soon. "Fine, what's the big deal? Hagrid's…" Comprehension dawned on Ron's features as he realized what Harry'd been shouting earlier. "Wait, Hagrid's back? What are we waiting for? Let's get 'Mione and get going!"

Harry just rolled his eyes and finished getting dressed, waiting impatiently until Ron pulled his shirt on before dragging him out into the common room, where Hermione was sitting, already starting on her homework for the weekend. When the boys rushed into the room, she looked up, slightly surprised at the fact that they were already awake.

"Hermione, Hagrid's back! Look!" Pointing out the window, Harry gestured excitedly to the smoke gently wafting from the hut's chimney.

Following his fingers, Hermione rolled her eyes. "Oh, Harry, there's been smoke in that chimney for days. I heard that one of those—"

"Hermione, you're just upset because we interrupted your work. This is **Hagrid**; you can afford to take a break." And, at that, Harry grabbed her hand and dragged her out the common room door, with Ron following closely behind. Sighing, Hermione resigned herself to her fate, knowing that, when Harry made up his mind about something, there was no going back.

* * *

Sakura woke up early, like usual, to find that Hinata had already prepared a fire for breakfast while Sai sat at the kitchen table, drawing something, as usual. The latter looked up when she got out of the small bed she'd shared with Hinata before turning back to his work. Sakura gave him a small wave and headed over to her fellow kunoichi, who was now cutting some strange fruit for breakfast. She grabbed a kettle and began boiling water for tea, smiling at Hinata's whispered thanks.

It was then that she wondered why they were being so silent, and turned to see that Danny and Naruto were still asleep on the enormous mattress that they had shared with Sai. 'Hmm…I'll bet that Naruto won't be happy if he found out he slept with Sai last night…I think I'll just save that as blackmail for some other time,' Sakura thought, laughing to herself. Seeing the strange look that Hinata was giving her, Sakura realized that she must have laughed aloud, and quickly turned back to the breakfast that she'd been preparing, embarrassed.

Her discomfort was soon forgotten, however, when the front door suddenly burst open. Hinata nearly cut her finger in her surprise, while Sakura immediately entered a defensive stance, grabbing the nearest utensil in defense. Sai was the only one who seemed unaffected, besides the two sleeping boys. But then, Sai never seemed to let things affect him all that much.

What occurred **after** the door opened, however, caused even Sai to blink in surprise.

* * *

Harry rushed towards the hut, his friends barely keeping up, and threw open the door in his excitement. Bursting into the small home, he could not contain himself any further. "HAGRID!!! Hagrid, we came as soon as we—wait, Hinata? Where's Hagrid? I saw the chimney and I thought…"

Harry's rant was interrupted by Hermione, her breath coming in short gasps thanks to their sprint to the small hut. "Harry, I was trying to tell you…the chimney…it's been lit almost every morning… Hinata is staying here…in Hagrid's hut… taking care of…Fang and the gardens…"

At this, Harry's shoulders slumped, and he looked around. It was obvious that Hagrid was not back yet; Hinata was in the middle of slicing some fruit for breakfast, and Sakura was… "Wait, why is Sakura here? And is that Sai? And what are Danny and Naruto doing in Hagrid's bed…together?!" The last question was one Harry wasn't sure he wanted answered, but his mouth had started to run away from him in his confusion.

Hinata blushed at the last statement, while Sakura scowled, quickly replacing the spoon she'd grabbed as an improvisatory weapon onto the countertop. "A-ano, Harry-kun," Hinata replied, quietly, "I-I am s-sorry to raise your hopes, but Hermione is right. My friends are here because I was homesick, and w-wished for them to stay the night with me."

Harry blushed, embarrassed at his blunder, and opened his mouth to reply, but he was interrupted by a loud voice that could only belong to one person.

"What the hell, Danny! Why are you cuddling me?!"

Naruto attempted to jump out of the bed, embarrassed, but became tangled in the sheets, falling to the floor in a heap. Danny slowly opened his eyes, and peered over the bed at his distressed friend.

"Wuh-what? Naruto, what are you doing, dude?"

Naruto simply glared in response, and turned his head from Danny's inquiring eyes, only to see the small audience that had seen his miniature breakdown. Harry tried not to laugh as the blonde's face turned bright red, while Danny was looking more confused by the minute.

"No, seriously, what is going on? Why am I in Hinata's—?"

"Well, Danny, what happened is that Naruto-kun shouted after he grew uncomfortable when you rolled over onto him in your sleep, although for a moment he did seem to enjoy it," Sai stated, cutting off the rest of Danny's question. Danny sputtered in response, embarrassed, while his friends laughed at their predicament.

"Sai, don't tease him too much," Sakura admonished half-heartedly, attempting to stifle her laughter in her hands. "After he so kindly came over with us to keep Hinata company last night, you should be nicer." The last statement was stated much more seriously, and directed towards both Danny and Naruto, whose eyes widened for a moment in recognition of a cover story. Harry didn't miss this reaction, but he couldn't decide exactly what it might mean.

"Um, well, I guess we should leave you guys alone," Harry replied, noticing the uncomfortable looks on Ron and Hermione's faces. He really hoped to stay and learn more about the strange new students, but he also didn't want to seem rude. Thus, when Hinata mentioned that they should at least stay for breakfast, he jumped at the opportunity, ignoring Hermione's protests of not wanting to intrude.

Soon all eight of them were crowded around Hagrid's table, which seemed to have grown in size to accommodate the larger group. Judging from the smug look on Hermione's face, Harry figured that it was thanks to her handiwork.

"Well," he began, "How do you guys like school so far? I mean, besides Umbridge giving Danny and Naruto detention, and Snape being pure evil."

Naruto, Danny, and Ron all laughed, while Hermione stifled her giggle, attempting to maintain some air of civility. "Well, you know, I really miss home, but I've gotta say, this place certainly isn't boring. Then again, neither was Amity Park," replied Danny, still smiling.

"Amity Park? Is that where you're from, Danny? What's it like?" Harry had to smile at Hermione's rapid-fire questioning; apparently he wasn't the only one that was curious about the newcomers.

"Oh, yeah, Amity Park is my hometown. It's pretty nice; we get a lot of uh, _magic_ stuff there, too, so there's always something going on. Thing is, I've been away from home for two months now, and I really miss my family and friends."

"Wait," Ron broke in, "**Two months**?! We've been here a week; what were you doing for that long?"

"Sightseeing," Danny replied, a little too soon. "I just wanted to fully experience the whole 'study abroad' thing. That's why I know these guys. We all ended up coming early to enjoy the sights as part of the exchange program. Anyways, you wanted to know about my family?"

Harry swore he heard Naruto mumble about books and a stupid inn, but he ignored it and turned to Danny, hoping to finally uncover some of the mystery surrounding the new students. "Sure," he replied, "We never really got to talk before, anyways. We were too busy doing lines." Danny didn't miss the venom in his voice at the last sentence, but let it go. After all, he felt the same way about their miserable detentions.

"Well, my parents are both inventors. They specialize in gh—er, I mean, supernatural phenomena, but they aren't wizards; I'm actually the only wizard in my family. My sister, Jazz, is a genius. She's going into Child Psychology at Yale. She's a bit overbearing, but, it's not so bad, considering. I mean, my whole family's pretty out there. My dad is obsessed with fudge and gho—guns, and my mom shares his interests. Not the fudge, just the guns."

"No wonder you're never bored," Harry remarked, reaching for another piece of toast, while Hermione quickly explained the concept of guns to a confused Ron.

Danny smiled in response. "Yeah, well, it helps that I have my friends. Tucker is obsessed with technology. I'd think he'd die if he saw this place; he avoids 'tech-free zones' at all costs. He's the mayor now, anyways, so he couldn't get away if he wanted to. And Sam, my girlfriend, is amazing. We just got together this summer, but I've known her since freshman year. She's definitely got a…_unique_ personality, but she's also really funny, loyal, and caring. I miss her the most, I think."

"Oh, Danny, that's so sweet," Hermione cooed, much to the chagrin of her male friends. "I'll bet a few of the girls here won't be happy to hear you have a girlfriend, though." Pausing to enjoy the confused look on Danny's face, she continued, "What about you, Naruto? Are you seeing anyone? Because I'm pretty sure Lavendar Brown and the Patil sisters have had their eyes on you for a while now."

Naruto looked at Hermione with a mixture of confusion and disbelief, but before he could ask her to elaborate, Sakura interrupted. "Wait, are you sure they were looking at NARUTO?! Not Sai? Or even Danny? Maybe they were actually looking at Harry, and you're mistaken?"

Hermione looked at Sakura, confused that she didn't seem to process the fact that a girl could have a crush on Naruto. After all, he had adorably spiky blonde hair, tanned skin, and what looked to be a well-toned body. What wasn't there to like?

Naruto, on the other hand, was only concerned with the second part of Sakura's statement. "Sakura-chan, how can you think that a girl would like Sai more than me?! I've got style, AND personality!"

"He's got a point there," Ron interjected, "Sai's not exactly boyfriend material. No offense."

Sai simply gave Ron another one of his patently fake smiles, finding this recent turn in conversation rather interesting. Sakura, on the other hand, felt the need to defend herself, while at the same time wondering why it bothered her so much that other girls seemed to find Naruto attractive. "And you think **Naruto** _is_?! I mean, he's loud, obnoxious, his hair is _yellow_…at least Sai is good-looking! Like a less-hot Sasuke! Naruto is just…._Naruto_."

As soon as the words left her mouth, Sakura regretted them. She noticed the looks of shock coming from Danny, Harry, Ron, and Hermione, and even the hint of disbelief emanating from the stoic Sai, and realized that she had gone too far. Hinata was nervously twiddling her fingers, her face bright red, as she worriedly glanced from Naruto to Sakura and back again. And Naruto…when she finally was able to look at him, he was smiling widely, the gesture not quite reaching his eyes.

"Oh, Naruto, I'm sorry, I didn't mean…" She began, trying to apologize. The thing that made it so much worse was that she didn't believe a word of what she'd said; it was simply that hearing Naruto's sudden popularity with the girls of Hogwarts made her stomach twist unpleasantly. Her harsh words were more of an attempt to hide her jealousy than anything.

Of course, Naruto responded in his usual, optimistic manner. "Oh, it's okay, Sakura-chan; I know that I can't compete with Sasuke. Don't worry about it. Maybe I can trick one of the girls here into dating me before they realize what I'm **really** like."

His teasing tone held no malice, but his voice was somehow subdued, and Sakura couldn't help but wince at his comments. She wished to take it all back and apologize, but knew that it wouldn't be needed. For some reason, Naruto took her abuse without complaint, and forgave her immediately. But still, the room hung heavy with an awkward silence until Danny finally interrupted.

"Oh! I just remembered! I have to send my family a letter, or Sam will kill me! Does anyone know where I can find Spooky?"

The group breathed a collective sigh of relief at the sudden change in topic, until Harry realized that he, too, had a letter to send to Sirius. "Actually, Danny, I have a message that I need to send along, too. I'll show you how to get to the Owlery, where all of the pet owls stay. I guess you can come too, Sai, in case you ever needed to find Tawny."

Sai smiled and nodded, and the three rose from the table, heading towards the door. As they were leaving, Ron suddenly remembered his intentions to get some Quidditch practice in before starting in on homework, and called out, "Hey, Harry, do you want to get in some Quidditch practice after you finish sending your letter? I can grab your broom while I get mine from our room."

"Oh, Ron, that's a wonderful idea," Hermione gushed, surprising her two friends, as she was usually the first to condemn their tendency of choosing Quidditch over their studies. Their surprise soon turned to annoyance when they heard her real intentions. "You should bring along Naruto, Danny, and Sai! I'm sure they'd _love_ to learn Quidditch from two people that are actually on the team!"

Ron and Harry groaned at the thought of spending valuable practice time teaching beginners how to handle a broomstick, but, after the humiliation that Naruto had faced only minutes before, they didn't have the heart to leave the poor guy hanging, so they agreed. Ron grabbed Naruto's arm and pulled him towards the door, and the boys left, leaving the girls to themselves.

Hermione turned towards them expectantly, eager to get to the bottom of Sakura's aversion to Naruto. After all, he _was_ rather attractive, and since Danny was taken…so she boldly smiled and asked, "So, I didn't really get the straight answer. **Is** Naruto single?"

She was blissfully unaware of the two separate waves of killer intent that immediately began to emanate from the two girls opposite her.

* * *

As soon as they stepped on the Quidditch pitch, Harry and Ron realized that the three new Gryffindors were much more skilled than they appeared. The minute Harry had finished explaining the rules and handed over the school brooms, Naruto had shoved his broom underneath him and taken off, laughing wildly. Danny was not far behind, and Sai, after examining the wizard's shocked faces for a moment, joined them.

Not having seen a wizard take so well to a broom since Harry their first year at Hogwarts, the two boys still on the ground took a few moments to shake off their disbelief before rising to the air, Quaffle in hand. From there on, what had begun as a simple beginner's lesson turned into a competitive match, pitting Harry and Danny against Naruto and Sai, with Ron as Keeper.

Hours later, Harry and Danny had managed a victory, and all five boys were walking back to the Great Hall for lunch. Naruto was bragging loudly about his aerial prowess, despite his loss, when they ran into Sakura, Hinata, and Hermione. After the awkwardness created by Hermione's first question had passed, the girls had rapidly become good friends, finding that Hermione and Sakura in particular had much in common.

The girls greeted their friends warmly, the harsh words from the morning all but forgotten. However, when Parvati Patil and Lavendar Brown made a beeline towards their group, smiling at Naruto, all three girls inexplicably grabbed him and the other boys and dragged them in the opposite direction, back to the Gryffindor common room.

When Naruto complained, he found himself on the receiving end of yet another one of Sakura's punches. After that, none of the boys dared to comment on the girls' strange behavior, each thinking the same thing: 'We are _never_ leaving them alone again.'

* * *

**A/N**: Yah, idk why I didn't post this sooner. I've rewritten the battle twice, and the second half three times. It originally contained a much stranger spar, and a huge rant about every facet of Konoha from Naruto, but I like this better. I'm almost glad I waited to post…now I kind of have more inspiration…ah, well.

Next up: Sirius Black makes an appearance, and remember Harry's dream? That's coming into play pretty soon…things are gonna start heating up, and deviating from the book's canon sooner than you can say "Gama-sama." Stay tuned!


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